The Honourable Dianne Whalen, Minister of Transportation and Works, announced today that two shipyards, Clarenville Drydock Limited and Peter Kiewit and Sons of Marystown, have been invited to submit bids on construction of two new provincial ferry vessels.

The shipyards will bid on the construction of a medium and a small-sized ferry, designed by Poseidon Marine of St. John�s. The medium-sized ferry will hold 16 cars, while the small ferry will have a 10-car capacity. The size of the vessels to be built will be determined when the Provincial Government receives quotations from the shipyards and decides where the vessels will be deployed. The Provincial Government will weigh options of two small vessels, two medium vessels, or one of each.

Last spring, the Department of Transportation and Works invited local shipyards to demonstrate they were qualified to build the ferries, and Minister Whalen is pleased to see that two provincial shipyards qualified for the project after strict review by Lloyd�s Register North America, Inc.

"This government had no doubt, and this process has confirmed unequivocally, that this province has world-class shipbuilding capacity," said Minister Whalen.

"My department looks forward to receiving the bids and moving forward with the Vessel Replacement Strategy."

The shipyards have until early January to submit their bids, and the Department of Transportation and Works expects construction of the ferries to begin in the spring of 2008. The department anticipates that one ferry will be built by the spring of 2009 and the second by the fall of 2009.

Construction of both vessels will create approximately 330,000 person hours of employment. As part of the Vessel Replacement Strategy, the Provincial Government, over the next five years, plans to build another three vessels, two of which will be either small or medium-sized and utilize the same designs provided by Poseidon Marine.

In addition to investing in ferry construction, in Budget 2007 the Williams Government injected $10.3 million for refits of government-owned ferry vessels and $5 million for maintenance and capital construction of terminals and wharfs. Also, as part of Budget 2007, the Provincial Government announced in March it will invest $1.5 million to reduce ferry rates, bringing them in line with road equivalency.

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