The CEO of Marine Atlantic says planned upgrades at their terminal in Argentia will pay dividends for the province if the supply chain from Port aux Basques is severed.
Yesterday, Ottawa announced $270-million for upgrades at Marine Atlantic’s facilities.
Included in that is plans to expand the dock in Argentia from a single-loading system to a bi-loading system, similar to what is in place in Port aux Basques.
Murray Hupman underscores the importance of Argentia to the services they provide, but also as a contingency plan in case the TCH becomes impassable.
“Whoever thought the highway (from Port aux Basques) would be washed out for a couple of weeks? But it happened, and then how do you get these goods and services? Because there are a lot of things that are of a critical nature that you need for hospitals, you need for medical facilities….you need to have a mitigation strategy, and that is what this becomes.”
