© 2024 Maine Public | Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.

Nova Star Cruises' Bid to Continue Ferry Service from Canada to Portland Rejected

The Cat in Yarmouth Harbour, Nova Scotia
Wikipedia

PORTLAND, Maine _ Nova Star Cruises has lost its bid to continue running ferry service from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to Portland.

The provincial government is instead entering into negotiations with Bay Ferries, which used to run a high speed catamaran between the two cities.

Nova Star Cruises had hoped to continue running the ferry for a third season and was one of five companies that submitted bids to the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal.

"It was certainly a beautiful vessel," says Geoff MacLellan, Nova Scotia's Transportation Minister. "I had the opportunity to take it back and forth myself."

He says the Nova Star just couldn't make the economics work. Over the past two years, the company, based in Portland, got more than $30 million in subsidies from the provincial government in Nova Scotia. The Nova Star had hoped to serve 100,000 passengers in 2014 and 80,000 this past season. But, as MacLellan notes, it ended up carrying around 60,000 passengers a year.

"When you look at a vessel the magnitude of Nova Star, it would be tough to cover those cost for operating," he said. "The shortfall would be the responsibility of the taxpayers of Nova Scotia. And that was getting to be a very tough message and a very tough scenario for us."

So next summer, the province will turn to a familiar partner, as it tries to boost the number of trips between Portland and Yarmouth. Bay Ferries Ltd ran a high speed catamaran service between Yarmouth and Portland and Yarmouth and Bar Harbor from 2006 to 2009. Mark MacDonald, the company's CEO, did not return a call for comment by airtime. But in a statement to Canadian newspapers, MacDonald said it would "work with the province in rebuilding this key transportation corridor."

MacLellan, meantime, had few details about what the new service would look like or how much it would cost.

"That's part of the negotiations and a lot of what will happen over the next number of weeks is that Bay Ferries will get busy looking at the operational factors, marketing, the vessel, the crew, the requirements at respective terminals on our side and the American side," he said.

Nova Star Crusies would not make anyone available for a taped interview. But in a statement, Mark Amundsen, the company's CEO, said Nova Star was disappointed not to be able to keep operating the service and would work with the province to ensure a smooth transition ahead of the 2016 season.