The CEO of Marine Atlantic is prepared for the predictable pushback that will come with pending rate increases.
But with a growing gap between revenue versus expenses, Murray Hupman says something’s got to give.
Marine Atlantic released its annual review of operations yesterday in St. John’s, which listed about $100 million in revenue against $250 million in expenses.
Hupman says narrowing that $150-million gap will require a bigger federal subsidy and the first rate increases in seven years, adding the years of no increases are likely a thing of the past.
Hupman says he knows how that’ll be received.
“It will be the same; it will be the same issues. People will say it’s now starting to get too expensive to use it, and maybe they are right,” he said. “But—everything in our math, everything that we look at tells us that we are in a good place. We are standardized,” he said “We feel very comfortable that our rates are where they belong.”
Meanwhile, Marine Atlantic has taken possession of its new administration building in Port aux Basques.
Staff are in the process of moving to the new site.