The provincial government has issued a tender for a new swing vessel to be added to its ferry fleet, which the premier says is an important first step to addressing issues within the ferry system.

On the campaign trail, Tony Wakeham promised four new ferries – one swing vessel for the Fogo Island/Change Islands and Bell Island runs, which will be acquired by tender, and three others that they plan to build in the province.

The tender for the swing vessel went out a week before Christmas, with Wakeham stressing the importance of having that in place.

“We’re clearly in the ferry business,” notes Wakeham, who says they can’t have a situation like last summer where communities were competing with each other for service. That’s the first step, according to Wakeham, then they will look at the promise of having ferries built here and how that model could work.