The owner of a local trucking company is part of a coalition pushing to increase capacity on the Gulf ferry run.

Chris Howlett of the NL Gulf Ferry Coalition recently travelled to Ottawa to impress on MPs the importance of keeping the Leif Ericson in Marine Atlantic’s fleet once the Île Rouge begins service as a swing vessel on the Gulf run.

Howlett, who owns Akita Equipment, says Marine Atlantic needs to maintain a five vessel fleet.

He says bookings on Marine Atlantic were 130 per cent over capacity, at times, this past summer. “It’s hard to get people here if we don’t have the capacity to get them here on the ferries. We need more capacity.”