Government still giving no indication that new ferries will be built in the province

 Under questioning in the House of Assembly this week, Transportation and Works Minister Tom Hedderson still provided no commitment that tenders to build six new coastal vessels will have a requirement that the fabrication work would have to be done at shipyards in Newfoundland and Labrador, says Opposition Leader Yvonne Jones.

In July, government issued a tender for the provision of ferry service on six coastal service routes. With the vessel requirements that were put in the tender, bidders had no other choice but to submit bids that would see new vessels built. There was no stipulation in the contract that required these vessels to be built in Newfoundland and Labrador at provincial shipyards. The issue was recently raised during the Terra Nova by-election last month.

“The decision to award the contract for these vessels was supposed to be made by the end of November, however, as a result of pressure they received during a by-election, government indicated that this tender would not be awarded,” said Ms. Jones. “Under questioning in the House of Assembly this week, I was disappointed that government was still not prepared to make the commitment that any new vessels would have to be built in our province. It is still unclear what government’s next steps will be to improve the vessels servicing these routes.

“This is a very important issue in shipbuilding areas of the province and could mean hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars into the local economy. Instead of shipping this money to other parts of North America, a commitment should be made that these projects will be completed right here at home. Unfortunately, we have yet to hear this commitment from the minister.”

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