DETROIT – When you spend a lifetime as a journalist, you meet a lot of people. I’ve interviewed presidents and prime ministers, a bank robber and a Roman Catholic cardinal or two.
I’ve met wonderful characters and scoundrels and a whole lot in between. But out of all those thousands, I don’t think I’ve ever met a better man than Gregg Ward, who runs the Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry, an important asset to Ohio, Michigan and Ontario’s economy — an asset he may close if he doesn’t get some urgently needed help.
Paul LaMarre, director of the Port of Monroe and former director of maritime affairs for the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority told me, “I consider Gregg one of the most honorable people I have ever had the opportunity to work with.
“I think anyone who has had the chance to work with Gregg considers him a friend,” he added. “More than that: In 1990, he and his dad started this ferry to meet a need, and they have dedicated their lives to it, and to the public good, even when that hasn’t been in their own best interests. I have never met anyone like that.”
He added, “I would say that the truck ferry is now more important than ever,” especially with the construction of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge now fully underway.
The Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry meets three important needs. First, it is the only legal way in the entire region to transport hazardous materials, such as batteries for the new Stellantis electric vehicle battery plant being built across the river that divides the United States and Canada. Next, it is the only possible way to transport components too large for the aging and somewhat dilapidated Ambassador Bridge, such as turbine blades for windmills, but also some key components for the new Gordie Howe International Bridge, expected to open in late 2024.
Finally, the automakers rely on the ferry when there is an emergency, such as a temporary shutdown of the Ambassador Bridge. Taking cargo 60 miles to the already overburdened Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron is neither practical nor financially feasible.
For years, the ferry did well enough, though neither Gregg Ward nor his father, John, became wealthy. It supports nine full-time jobs, including a captain, a crew member and an engineer. “Their aim wasn’t to get rich, or overcharge people,” said LaMarre.
Both Ward families lived in nice, but modest houses in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. But in recent years, the volume of hazmat traveling across the ferry has decreased significantly, while costs of nearly everything have escalated dramatically.
For many years, the owners of the Ambassador Bridge have been lobbying for a permit to allow hazmat trucks to use their bridge, which is nearly a century old. Some think that’s already secretly happening.
Environmentalists are horrified at the thought of allowing hazmat on the old bridge. Hazardous materials will, however, be able to be transported across the new Gordie Howe bridge, which is built to modern specifications.
Gregg Ward has been a strong advocate of a new bridge for years, even though he has always said that one would almost certainly put him out of business. “It’s the right thing to do for many reasons, including the economy and the whole region’s future,” he said. He also has been sharply critical of the way the Ambassador Bridge Company has done business and treated people.
For years, he also operated as sort of a central clearing house for information about bridge issues, and provided an invaluable, reliable and free service to reporters and government officials.
Now 61, his plan was to run the ferry as long as it was needed, and then find something else to do. But while right now the ferry is indeed probably needed more than ever, it isn’t making money.
Ward, whose parents both died last year, doesn’t own the tugboat and barge that moves the cargo, and is reluctant to sign a long-term lease that could bankrupt him. He’s the single father and sole caregiver for an adult special needs son, who will never be able to live or work on his own.
“We’ve been doing this largely as a public benefit for so long people take us for granted, but unless we get some help, it’s just not worth continuing to operate,” he said. He is asking for a subsidy of $160,000 a month to keep going, and has applied to the governments of Michigan, Canada and Ontario for help.
Michigan, which is not even paying for the costs of the Gordie Howe Bridge, has been essentially unresponsive, he said. Brian Masse, the Canadian Member of Parliament for Windsor West, has written to the nation’s transport minister urging help for the ferry.
“A closure of the (ferry) would add significant delays” to both the Gordie Howe bridge and the Stellantis battery plant,” Masse said, as well as adding “delays and additional costs to these materials for local companies.” So far, however, there’s been no reply.
If the truck ferry were to close, it would be very hard to start a new one because rules have changed so much in both countries. For example, “If anyone tried to start anew, they would have to pay the full costs,” of the customs officials on both sides of the border,” Ward said. “I’m still holding out hope that someone steps up,” he told me.
“But I fear that anything you write may be a postmortem report.”
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(A version of this column appeared in the Toledo Blade)
