Marine Atlantic schedules refit for two vessels

A Marine Atlantic ferry departs Port aux Basques. – © J. René Roy

PORT AUX BASQUES – Marine Atlantic has advised that two of its four vessels – MV Highlanders and the MV Atlantic Vision – will be heading to Québec for refit this fall.

The Highlanders will be headed to the Verreault Shipyard in October and the Vision will enter the schedule in the interim. The MV Leif Ericson will remain on standy.

The Vision is scheduled for its own refit in November. The refits for each vessel are expected to last for a period of four weeks and are part of the regular maintenance schedule.

“This work was posted as per Government of Canada procurement processes and Verreault was the successful bidder,” wrote Darrell Mercer, Marine Atlantic’s Corporate Communications Officer.

Marine Atlantic owns the Highlanders, while the Vision is leased until the fall of 2022. Any decisions about the future of the MV Atlantic Vision will take place after consultations with the federal government.

The Crown corporation also revealed that COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the summer tourist season.

“Our passenger traffic for this summer season was down approximately 60 percent,” wrote Mercer.

#Local #MarineAtlantic #PortAuxBasques #Weekly