Transport Canada has awarded Quebec-based Sani-Sable a C$7.3 million contract to build a sediment basin beside Prince Edward Island’s Wood Islands ferry terminal. The project is intended to help maintain safe ferry access while addressing local concerns about sediment disposal.
The facility is planned for federal land west of the terminal. It will measure about 150 meters by 280 meters and hold close to 125,000 cubic meters. Transport Canada says crews will use it to retain and filter material removed during routine dredging, which clears sediment to help ferries reach the terminal safely.
Wood Islands serves a seasonal route to Caribou, Nova Scotia. It is one of three interprovincial ferry services supported by Transport Canada’s Ferry Services Contribution Program in Atlantic Canada and Eastern Quebec. The department estimates that the three services contribute about C$265 million to the Canadian economy each year. For 2022-23 through 2025-26, annual averages were about 574,000 passengers and 216,000 passenger vehicles, plus 19,500 commercial vehicles.
Transport Canada says fare reductions introduced in August 2025 helped make the services more affordable and improve travel between provinces. The basin is also part of the department’s longer-term dredging plan for Wood Islands, which it says responds to fishing-community concerns about possible effects of offshore sediment disposal on local livelihoods.
The department opened a request for proposals on Aug. 19, 2026, and awarded the contract in October after a competitive evaluation. Kings-Hants MP Kody Blois announced the project on Oct. 23 on behalf of Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon. Construction is scheduled to start in November 2026 and finish before ferry service resumes in spring 2027. Most work is planned for the route’s off-season, and Transport Canada does not expect it to interrupt service.
