Some Newfoundlanders were surprised to find bare meat shelves in some grocery stores over the weekend.

Images of nearly empty meat freezers at local grocery stores in Gander, N.L. circulated on social media on Saturday and Sunday.

Ferry delays appear to have caused the problem. Trucks carrying goods, including groceries, on Marine Atlantic ferries from North Sydney, N.S. to Channel-Port aux Basques, N.L. have experienced delays this season due to ice buildup.

Loblaw, which owns the Dominion locations across the province, said the delays have caused some challenges with stocking the fresh and deli sections of some stores.

"This time of year is always a challenge for us, especially in Newfoundland and Labrador, where we rely on the ferry service," Mark Boudreau, director of Loblaw Corporate Affairs (Atlantic), told CTV News. "It's factor of life in Atlantic Canada."

Despite the photos that circulated online, Boudreau said the meat sections were never completely empty.

"There was probably a very short time over the past week where we had a lower stock of meat," he said.

This year has been an especially bad one for ferry delays caused by ice buildup, said Darrell Mercer of Marine Atlantic, which provides ferry services between Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia, told CTV. The ice, which forms along the Labrador coast, was carried by winds down the Davis Strait to the Newfoundland area earlier than normal this year.

"This is amongst the worst we've seen in about 30 years," said Mercer. "Last year, the ice moved in late March, early April and caused a bit of a problem for a few weeks. This week, the ice moved in early February and started to build from that time forward."

He said the recent backups were caused by a ferry that got stuck in the ice off Cape Breton on its way to Newfoundland earlier this month. The ferry, which was carrying 190 passengers, was stranded for 24 hours in the ice.

The backups continued until last week. He said the ferries, which can carry up to 100 commercial tractor trailers across the seaway at one time, were back on schedule by Friday, so he wasn’t sure why there were shortages in the grocery store over the weekend.

Mercer highlighted the fact that trucks may have been in transit to the grocery stores after they landed at Channel-Port aux Basques. Trucks have a long drive from Port aux Basques to many of the grocery stores across Newfoundland. For instance, the drive from the port to Gander is more than six hours.

Boudreau said there was still a slight shortage of pork products on Monday morning, but he expected that issue to be rectified by the afternoon. Aside from the pork supply, Boudreau said he received photos of fully stocked shelves from the Dominion store in Gander.