Messy Maritime weather impacting holiday travel

For the third day in a row, commercial trucks were backed up at the Newfoundland Ferry terminal in North Sydney, N.S.            

With the rain coming down relentlessly on Wednesday, Darrell Mercer, the communications director for Marine Atlantic, said it might be a while before they can get moving.

“We’ve been experiencing winds on the southwest coast in excess of 140 kilometers an hour, torrential rains, the sea states have been up to seven meters,” said Mercer.

Crossings on both sides of the Cabot Strait were cancelled earlier in the week.           

“We’ve already cancelled tonight’s crossings and tomorrow’s crossings, and there might also be an impact on Friday,” said Mercer.

At the Halifax Stanfield International, the region's largest airport, officials said, so far, travellers have been spared cancellations or major delays. However, they're advising travellers to check ahead.

"Before you arrive to the airport, check in with your airline, either on their direct app or through our website, just to make sure that there's not any delays or cancellations,” said Mikela Sani-Routledge of the Halifax International Airport Authority.

Marine Atlantic said it was able to get some ships sailing Wednesday morning, during a break in the weather, clearing a backlog of about 1,000 passengers and some commercial traffic.       

However, more messy weather is expected to hit the Cabot Strait later in the week.

“There’s a lot of packages, there’s a lot of food for the grocery stores that’s en route to Newfoundland,” said Mercer.

“So we’ll see that impact over the next couple of days, but again our commitment is to move that as quickly and efficiently as possible once the weather clears.”

Mercer added, with better weather expected Saturday, the hope is for smooth sailing from then on in order to get people and goods to where they need to be in time for the holidays.