’We need support’: Truck ferry operator seeks financial help from Michigan and Ottawa
The owner of the Detroit Windsor Truck Ferry is asking for $160,000 a month to keep afloat.
“For 33 years, we've been self sufficient. But the last years have been very difficult,” President Gregg Ward told CTV News. “I think Detroit-Windsor is the only location where you have private border crossings. It's a very anomalous situation. And then we need support. That's just the way it is.”
The truck ferry moves hazardous materials and over-sized loads across the border.
Explosives, and flammable solids and gases are not permitted to cross on the Ambassador Bridge.
The ferry can also accommodate bigger loads, according to Ward.
“Equipment and machinery can't cross the Ambassador Bridge if it's over 12 feet wide. We take trucks up to 20 feet wide,” said Ward.
When the Gordie Howe International Bridge opens, it will be equipped to handle hazardous goods.
Ward wants both sides of the border to share the $160,000 needed per month to keep the ferry operating until the bridge opens at the very least, and possibly, even after it opens to traffic.
“It's really odd that you're [Canada] spending billions of dollars to build a new bridge because you don't think there's adequate redundancy today,” said Ward. “And then you're going to allow one of the only crossings for hazmat, the only crossing for oversized trucks and critical freight during emergencies to close.”
Ward said more than 13,000 transports - many of them local - use the ferry in any given year, and if it closes, will have no choice but to add four hours onto their route and cross in Sarnia at the Bluewater Bridge.
Ward said Transport Canada has yet to reach out to him to discuss the future of the ferry.
Windsor-West MP Brian Masse has sent a letter to Transport Canada and Infrastructure Canada, warning of possible delays in the building of the Gordie Howe bridge and the battery plant in Windsor if the ferry is idled.
In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson for Transport Canada confirmed the receipt of Masse’s letter and said they would respond to it “in due course”.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
BREAKING Ottawa public school board, 3 Toronto-area school boards launch lawsuit against social media giants
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and three school boards in the Toronto-area have launched legal action against social media giants, accusing them of "disrupting students' fundamental right to education."
Doctors visiting a Gaza hospital are stunned by the war's toll on Palestinian children
An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst. But the gruesome impact Israel’s war against Hamas is having on Palestinian children still left them stunned.
Crypt near Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner could fetch US$400,000 at auction
A one-space mausoleum crypt in the vicinity of Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner will go on auction Saturday, when it is expected to reach between US$200,000 and $400,000.
This Toronto restaurant is no longer accepting tips. Here's how it's going
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff – tipping is no longer accepted.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Premiers not being truthful about carbon tax, Trudeau says while sparks fly in Ottawa
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Conservative premiers across the country are 'not telling the truth' when it comes to the carbon tax. Trudeau's comments came as fresh sparks were flying in Ottawa at a recalled House of Commons committee.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
What new auto insurance reforms will mean for Ontarians, if they get introduced
Ontario has among the highest rates for auto insurance premiums in Canada -- just below Alberta and Nova Scotia -- however, the introduction of an insurance reform in the provincial budget could soon lower prices.