SOUND OF ISLAY

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Refit cost less than projected

The refit of the "Sund of Islay" cost less than initially projected, and should extend the life of the vessel by eight to 10 years. She went out of service in the fall of 2015, after a routine annual refit turned up major problems. In early 2017, after the vessel had been laid up for about a year and a half, the province announced plans to do the work required to get the "Sound of Islay" back in serice. Those costs were projected to come in at just under $6 million, with Ottawa kicking in one-third of the cash. But things turned out better than expected. The total amount of funding required to refit the ferry ended up at about $4.6 million. The feds kicked in more than $1.5 million of that total. The work was finished in August. The repairs included refurbishment of the ship's bottom and tanks. More work — including extra pipework and extra steel work in the floors and sides of the tanks — was discovered to be necessary after the refit began. The government said that was expected in a project like this one. The "Sound of Islay" acts as a swing vessel, filling in to plug gaps where necessary in the province's ferry service. She is compatible with all docks around the island, and it meets the service requirements needed in small ports. The "Sound of Islay" is now serving the roughly 450 residents of Ramea and Grey River, replacing the "Gallipoli", which has been out of service since September and will be tied up longer than originally planned, and repair costs are also going up for that ship, which dates back to 1986.