Ferry fight about competitive advantage

By Mike Gushue

For any of your readers who may wonder why there is such an effort from local industry on the Digby-Saint John ferry issue, the basic tenets of economic development are transportation and communications, health and education, cultural and artistic amenities.

From a strictly economic perspective the most important is transportation.

Quite simply, transportation is an input cost to doing business. Just like salaries, cost of goods, operations and administration, transportation is a cost. The more efficient transportation systems are, the lower the cost of getting goods to market. That’s why businesses congregate around ports, airports and railways. It’s for competitive advantage.

The Digby to Saint John ferry offers such a competitive advantage to our local industry by shortening the time to market. The major industry of southwestern Nova Scotia is the fishing industry, which is valued at $600 million. It is a fresh fish industry. This product has most value in its freshest state. Getting it to market—mostly Boston—as quickly as possible ensures maximum price to the shipper.

There are two ways to get the fish to market—by road and by ferry. Five hundred miles by road gets you to Saint John, N.B. Five hundred miles by ferry gets you to Boston. The saving is seven hours. These seven hours have a value in terms of fish quality and price in the market place of $24 million. That’s ferry transportation added value.

Transportation infrastructure investments in New Brunswick such as the twinning of the highways between Saint John and St. Stephen, N.B., and the investment at the border crossing at Calais, Me., make the marine route even more attractive. This route also gives the added value of access to central Canadian markets and a growing backhaul (product transported back to Nova Scotia) market related to mink and other industries.

The savings to the trucking industry by the marine route are estimated to be worth $12 million, based on a reduction in compensation, fuel, maintenance and repairs.

Each year, approximately 280,000 visitors enter Canada at St. Stephen, N.B. The highway brings them to Saint John in close proximity to the ferry service. Imagine arriving in Saint John with the intent to visit this part of Nova Scotia and discovering a detour sign indicating a reroute of 700 kilometres. How many visitors will make it to our region?

Our tourism industry estimates the value of these tourism bed nights at $4 million. And now that tourism promoters have turned their attention from U.S. and foreign to the Canadian market, the ferry is especially strategically located. The Digby to Saint John ferry is our competitive advantage in the tourism market.

The ferry makes a valuable contribution to safety and the environment as well. Simply put, the impact of 40,000 additional passenger vehicles and 16,000 additional tractor-trailers on our highways will contribute to an increase in accidents and emissions. The cost of that many vehicles on our highways and emissions is estimated at $12 million.

The numbers quoted are based on research commissioned by this agency and others. A group representing regional municipalities, the fishing, tourism, mink, trucking, environmental interests and the City of Saint John, led by Warden James Thurber of Digby County has quietly gone about the business of ensuring that the consultants presently conducting the study on transportation systems and decision makers have a good understanding of the importance of this service.

It’s not about entitlement, it’s not because the service has been here for two hundred years, it’s about competitive advantage. Is this an important issue? You bet. The implications of a loss of the service are even more severe than indicated in this letter. While we have to be aware of these possible negative impacts, we are more interested in planning for a renewed service, with a more efficient vessel, welcoming new visitors to our region, getting our products to market and strengthening the relationship between this region and the growing prosperity of Saint John and beyond. (ITALICS)Mike Gushue is managing director of the Annapolis Digby Economic Development Agency (END ITALICS)