High fuel costs, plummeting traffic numbers means officials of the Owen Sound Transportation Company are looking at a loss of more than one million dollars by the end of this season.
General Manager Susan Schrempf says there is little they can do to stop the financial hemorrhaging as they already are using only two engines and slowed the ship down to try and conserve money.
She says they are seeing anywhere between 50 and 100 vehicles less using the ship every day.
Schrempf says there is no simple solution to the problem as they can’t reduce their sailing schedule this late in the season.
She says any decision like that would have to be made by the Board of Directors and the Province.
Schrempf would not speculate on any suggestion that continued losses could see the Chi Cheemaun taken out of service as a cost saving measure by the Government.
She says while people can still get to Manitoulin Island by land along the eastern side of Georgian Bay, tourism operators along the Bruce Peninsula and on Manitoulin Island see the ferry as an essential service in necessary for their businesses to survive.
