Trucker Dennis Porter says he had to make almost two dozen phone calls to get a berth on a recent Marine Atlantic sailing. (CBC)

Frustrated truckers are calling on Marine Atlantic to abandon a controversial ferry reservation system they say has disrupted commercial traffic between Nova Scotia and southern Newfoundland.

"The reservation system has to be scrapped, it has to go back to the way it was," trucker Chris Howlett told a forum in St. John's Monday.

"Right now, this is garbage. It's impossible."

The meeting was sponsored by Liberal MP Gerry Byrne, who has accused the federal Crown corporation of ignoring its mandate to provide a transportation link connecting Newfoundland with mainland Canada.

Marine Atlantic launched a reservation system for truckers this winter, replacing a load-and-go system it had used for years. The plan was to allow companies to book ahead so that their rigs would not be stuck in parking lots by Marine Atlantic's terminals.

Instead, independent truckers say larger companies have been making block-bookings, shutting out smaller operators. Often, they said, the reservations have been held until the last minute, meaning that ferries have been sailing with vacant positions.

Liberal MP Gerry Byrne says independent truckers should sue Marine Atlantic over its new commercial reservation system. (CBC)

"The girl told me keep calling back every hour [and] 23 times I called," Dennis Porter told the forum. "I finally got the truck on the boat Wednesday morning, but it was 23 phone calls."

Trucker Greer Hunt told the meeting about a recent experience that illustrated the problems of last-minute cancellations.

"There's positions for 30 trucks to go on that deck and there [was] one truck and nothing else. In the meantime, I was told there's no reservations," Hunt said.

Wayne Follett, Marine Atlantic's president and chief executive officer, acknowledged that the system is not working perfectly.

"Many of those complaints have been legitimate, to a point," he told CBC News.

However, he said Marine Atlantic's statistics don't support the complaints about reservations not being available.

"We've looked at the inventory to see what was available, and in 80 per cent of the cases.… there is a same-day or a next-day booking available to our customers," he said.

Follett agreed with another complaint from the truckers, that there is a need for more ferry capacity. He said he hopes the federal government will provide more money to Marine Atlantic to obtain larger ferries for the 2011 season.

Byrne, who represents the western Newfoundland riding of Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte in the House of Commons, said truckers should consider legal action.

"They're getting a raw deal. They're getting screwed," said Byrne, adding that the Terms of Union that brought Newfoundland into Confederation may be helpful in court.

"The constitution gives them special protections that they are not receiving in practice from Marine Atlantic and the federal government. They would win," Byrne said.