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Previously announced ferry schedule for 2005
Previous failed Shores Atlantic ferry services to Shelburne: 1999: Massachusetts-to-Nova Scotia Ferry proposed by Mayor Comeau and Massachusetts senator Bruce Tarr. "Things are going very well," says Mayor Comeau. 2001: "Shelburne-Glouster ferry possible for 2002", Mayor Comeau. "Everyone is coming on board", says Gene Hartigan. Bound
for Boston?
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Shores Atlantic LLC, the group that would operate the new service, is in final talks with the owners of the Scotia Prince, the 300-cabin ship they hope to lease, and with the Massachusetts Port Authority for dock space, said Eugene Hartigan, one of five investors in the venture.
If all goes well, final contracts between the parties could be signed this month, clearing the way for the inaugural 14-hour cruise sometime between July 1 and Aug. 1, he said.
The ferry would be the first such regular service connecting Boston's waterways with Canada's Nova Scotia, and could boost Massport's efforts to bring more cruise passengers through the Port of Boston. The number of passengers taking cruises from Boston has risen and tumbled in recent years, even as Massport has worked to draw more ships and more passengers.
Several cruise lines offer Caribbean, trans-Atlantic, and Bermuda cruises from Boston. This year, Massport expects 225,000 passengers to board cruise ships here, up from 199,453 in 2004.
Massport spokeswoman Danny Levy confirmed the talks, but said that several regulatory and community approval hurdles still need to be cleared.
The group is negotiating with Massport over the use of two potential docking locations for the ferry. Hartigan said the group prefers a deep-water berth along the Mystic River in Charlestown, a site that has ample parking.
''We look at the ship as a fun vehicle for people who maybe wouldn't take a Caribbean cruise, but would take a two- or four-day trip to Nova Scotia," Hartigan said.
If the new ferry sees the light of day, it would replace a defunct service that until last year ran between Portland, Maine, and Nova Scotia. Scotia Prince Cruises, the company that used to operate that service, canceled its 2005 schedule in April, citing ''dangerous levels of toxic mold" infesting the cruise terminal it had leased from the City of Portland, according to a statement from the company's chairman, Matthew Hudson, posted on its website.
Officials for Scotia Prince Cruises did not return calls from the Globe, but Gary Wood, Portland's city attorney, confirmed that the cruise company has filed a lawsuit against the city.
''Our view of why they stopped running out of Portland is very different from their view," Wood said. The city plans to countersue and has leased the terminal space out to a bus company that is running trips to the Foxwoods casino in Connecticut, he said.
Portland's loss could end up the gain of Bostonians and others willing to travel here for an overnight cruise filled with gambling, shows, or just relaxation.
Hartigan said the Portland lawsuit should not affect his group's efforts to lease the Scotia Prince. The ship can accommodate 1,000 passengers and about 185 cars, and the fares would range from $100 to $200 per round trip. He said the company could be profitable with roughly 250 people on each trip.
The ship carried an average of 700 to 800 passengers per trip when it was running from Portland, Hartigan said.
Initial plans are for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evening departures from Boston to Shelburne, Nova Scotia, with return trips on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings. Shelburne is a two-hour drive south of Halifax.
On Sundays, the group would operate a $50 per person ''family cruise to nowhere" that would take between four and six hours and travel a short distance into the Atlantic and back to Boston.
The cruise season would last through October, Hartigan said.
Once onboard, passengers could play slot machines and other gaming tables, watch a show in a 237-seat theater, or use a spa.
Wednesday, June 1, 2005
Maine Sunday Telegram
Bay State investors eyeing Scotia Prince
By TOM BELL and TUX TURKEL, Staff Writers
A Massachusetts investment group hopes so. It wants to lease the Scotia Prince this summer and set up a ferry service between Nova Scotia and Boston, replacing the service that operated between Nova Scotia and Portland for 35 years.
The Massachusetts group wants to start the service this summer to take advantage of Portland's loss, said Gene
Hartigan, one of the investors with Shores Atlantic LLC.
He said a Boston-based ferry could pick up customers who bought Scotia Prince tickets before its season was canceled in April. He said the ferry would keep the same crew.
"Our one goal is to get in the water and begin sailing some time this season," he said. "What better time to fill the vacuum than when the vacuum is created?"
The proposal calls for the ferry to sail from Boston in the early evening on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Rather than sail to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, the ferry would sail to Shelburne, a town of about 2,000 on the southeast corner of Nova Scotia, about an hour's drive from Yarmouth. The ferry would make the 12- to 14-hour trip from Shelburne on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The ferry from Portland took 11 hours, allowing for departures daily.
Shelburne Mayor P.G. Comeau, who has been pushing for such a service for years, said the town is ready to do whatever it takes.
I'm enthused about it," he said, "but I'm telling the media to use some caution. It certainly isn't a done deal."
Hartigan said a representative of his group is scheduled today to inspect the Scotia Prince, which is sitting in a dry dock in Charleston, S.C.
He said the group is finishing negotiations with the vessel's owner.
Mark Hudson, vice president of Scotia Prince Cruises, said he didn't know Hartigan and hadn't heard of his plan. He said that 25 to 30 parties have offered to buy the ship.
"I'm not aware of any (potential buyers) being involved in a trip to Nova Scotia," he said.
International Shipping Partners, the Miami brokerage firm that is selling the ship, declined to comment.
Mike Leone, Boston's port director, said Massport is examining the proposal. "It's an intriguing proposal, and we intend to continue discussions," he said. "We think there is a strong market between Boston and Nova Scotia."
One obstacle is that both Boston and Shelburne lack the infrastructure to load and unload cars from a ferry. Hartigan and Comeau said the problem could be solved easily with a ramp system using barges as a floating dock.
A similar problem faces Portland and the owners of The Cat, a high-speed catamaran that now operates between Bar Harbor and Yarmouth. The Cat's owners, who want to bring the ferry to Portland this fall, are struggling to find a cost-effective way to retrofit the city's docking facility so that cars, trucks and buses can be driven on and off The Cat.
Unless that problem can be solved soon, other obstacles, such as the cost of starting the service and marketing it to passengers on short notice, won't matter.
"We're basically hung up on a technical thing," said Jeffrey Monroe, Portland's transportation director. "I'm not sure if we can engineer a solution and get it installed in time."
The city and engineers from Bay Ferries, the company that owns The Cat, have been exploring several potential solutions. They would cost between $200,000 and $750,000, Monroe said.
Neither the city nor Bay Ferries wants to spend a lot of money on a short-term solution. A ramp that can handle both kinds of ships will be part of the new Ocean Gateway waterfront terminal, which is expected to open in 2007.
A ferry between Boston and Nova Scotia would pose tough competition for a ferry out of Portland. Unlike Boston, though, Portland could offer daily service because the trip is much shorter, Monroe said..
Monroe said studies have shown that a ferry service between Boston and Nova Scotia would be reasonably successful.
"But I can't imagine this happening this summer at all," he said.
YARMOUTH, N.S. -- A group of American investors hoping to set up a ferry service between Shelburne, N.S., and Boston is negotiating a lease for the M.V. Scotia Prince.
The proposal calls for the ferry to sail early-evenings from Boston on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays beginning this summer.
It would make the 12 to 14 hour trip from Shelburne on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Gene Hartigan, one of the investors with Shores Atlantic LLC of Boston, said an announcement could be made in a matter of days.
"It's less about whether it will become a reality but more about when it will begin,'' he said.
"I would say the window right now would be between July 1 and August 1. Obviously it would be an abbreviated season.''
Lydia Deinstadt, manager of the the Shelburne Visitor Centre said it would be the economic boom that the town needs.
The ferry can accommodate one-thousand passengers and 185 vehicles.
Earlier this year the owners of the Scotia Prince cancelled service between Portland, Maine, and Yarmouth, N.S., after 35 years of operation and put the ferry up for sale.
Scotia Prince Cruises has filed a $20-million claim against the city of Portland for its alleged failure to address toxic mould at the city-owned International Marine Terminal.
City officials claim to have made $1.2 million worth of improvements to the ferry terminal and were looking for another tenant, possibly The Cat, the high-speed ferry that runs now between Bar Harbor, Maine, and Nova Scotia.
Portland officials acknowledged the potential loss of revenue, but defended their decision to terminate the ferry's $400,000-a-year lease after the cruise company cancelled the 2005 season.
Previous ferry
stories:
December, 1998: Mayor Comeau announced that a new, high-speed
ferry from Massachussetts to Shelburne would begin in 1999
December of 2001: Gene Hartigan of Shores Atlantic, announced that a ferry service from Massachussetts to Shelburne would commence in May of 2002. Mayor Comeau committed $400,000 (U.S.) to required engineering work.