Should the government consider a twenty year window instead of a much longer time frame as a way of keeping the Balfour ferry terminal?
East Shore rural director Garry Jackmann says instead of moving to the shorter crossing point of Queens Bay how about commissioning a shallow draft ferry as a secondary vessel? The current West Arm location is getting shallower and is damaging the hull of the Osprey ferry.
That could replace the ageing smaller MV Balfour ferry in the short term and then become the blueprint for an electric ferry to replace the larger Osprey in twenty years from now.
The Ministry says moving to Queens Bay and keeping just the Osprey in service would save a million dollars a year in operating costs.
They insist nothing is a done deal but want to make a decision one way of the other by the fall.
