A 26-member CTMA crew will take off Saturday on a charter plane from Charlottetown to the Canary Islands, Spain, to pick up the next Magdalen Islands ferry to replace the current MV Madeleine.
The Magdalen Islander crew will spend about a month in Europe, during a dry dock to carry out painting work and the usual inspections that are part of the acquisition process. They will be accompanied by an expert from Transport Canada, which acquired the vessel at a cost of $155 million. The new vessel will be renamed the MV Madeleine II.
CTMA General Manager Emmanuel Aucoin said the vessel will cross the Atlantic by mid-March to the Islands and then return to the Halifax wharf to bring it up to Canadian navigational standards.
Emmanuel Aucoin, Director General of CTMA. Photo: CFIM
Here is Aucoin speaking with CFIM about the vessel standards (in French):
The work on the MV Madeleine II should last four or five weeks and Transport Canada is in charge of the invoice and the calendar of activities.
In the meantime, the hydraulic ramps at the Souris and Cap-aux-Meules wharves will be adjusted in two phases to fit the dimensions of the new 139-metre long ferry.
The hydraulic boarding ramp at the Cap-aux-Meules wharf will have to be adjusted to the dimensions of the new ferry that will replace the MV Madeleine. Photo by CFIM.
The hydraulic boarding ramp at the Cap-aux-Meules wharf will have to be adjusted to the dimensions of the new ferry that will replace the MV Madeleine.
Aucoin explained that the first phase consists of the installation of fixed ramps that will allow the loading and unloading of vehicles in the short term while waiting for the permanent adjustment of the infrastructures with the installation of new hydraulic ramps.
The Madeleine II will then return to the Islands while waiting for its commissioning, which will not take place before June, even in the best of cases.
The CTMA General Manager confirmed that the pool located on the deck of the Villa de Teror will be removed, since it is incompatible with the ferry's operations.
He also said that all sanitary requirements are, and will continue to be, met by the crew. This will include negative screening tests for the return trip, in order to avoid bringing back positive cases of COVID-19 to the archipelago.