Marystown Mayor Sam Synard said he is thrilled his community has landed a new shipbuilding contract. (CBC)

The Newfoundland and Labrador government awarded long-awaited contracts Tuesday to replace two of the vessels in its aging domestic ferry fleet.

The $50.5-million contract will be a boon for the Marystown shipyard. A subcontract will see 25 per cent of the work going to Clarenville Drydock Ltd.

The contract will be managed by Peter Kiewit Sons Co.

The two vessels will each accommodate 80 passengers and 16 cars, with the first ready to go into service in 2009.

Marystown Mayor Sam Synard said the announcement is great news for Marystown, which has not built a new vessel in nine years. Instead, the yard has handled lesser contracts, operating as a shadow of its former self.

"And we still regard ourselves as the premiere spot in Newfoundland and Labrador to build ships, so it's great that we [can] close that nine-year door. We're now back in the business of building new ships," said Synard.

"I hope the two ferries become four or five, as we go into the next four or five years."

Synard said the contract means between 150 and 200 jobs.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government is planning to build more intraprovincial ferries to replace a fleet that has long been flagged as being too old and in sore need of repair.

A 2006 consultants' report, for instance, found that the youngest ferry in the 20-vessel fleet at that time was 16 years old, and that the average age was then 33 years.

The report also recommended that the government streamline the number of ferries working on the coastal service, providing transport for isolated and island communities.

Henry Moores, president of the Canadian Auto Workers Union local in Marystown, said the new contract — which will see work start immediately — will keep some workers at home, and draw others back.

However, Moores admitted that the work will not be enough to lure back some skilled labourers who have moved away.

"I guess you're going to have problems. You're not going to get everyone to come back to Marystown to work," he said.

"But I think everybody has that choice to make, and hopefully that our workers, longtime workers that have worked at the shipyard, will certainly be back and that we can secure some long-term employment for them."

Work starting on 3rd, 4th ferries

Transportation and Works Minister Dianne Whalen said one of the ferries will be sent to St. Brendan's, while the second will work on the Long Island-Little Bay Islands run.

Whalen said preliminary work has begun on adding two additional ferries to the domestic fleet.

A third, medium-sized ferry is expected to be in service in the middle of 2011, and an expression of interest will soon be issued for design work on a fourth, large-sized ferry.