Transportation Minister Geoff MacLellan and Bay Ferries President and CEO Mark MacDonald will provide an update on the Yarmouth ferry Thursday.
Bay Ferries has been in negotiations with the United States navy to lease a catamaran called the HST 2. The ship also goes by the name USNS Puerto Rico and was previously owned by Hawaii Superferry where it was called the Alakai.
READ MORE: No details on Yarmouth ferry as tourist season approaches
Its expected the government will announce a deal to lease the American ferry. It’s been mothballed at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard since the navy acquired the ferry in 2012, and is still painted in the Hawaii Superferry colours.
Details on the government subsidy, ferry schedule, and start date haven’t yet been released.
Bay Ferries also hasn’t started marketing the Yarmouth to Portland, Maine route or selling tickets for the ferry. Previously MacLellan said he expects a ferry to start sailing the route in June.
Update comes months later than expected
The update on the ferry comes more than three months after a ferry was supposed to be secured – it took the company much longer than expected to find a boat.
Bay Ferries was awarded the contract for the ferry route, in October, after Nova Star Cruises operated it for two years. The government dumped the Nova Star in part because of high cost over runs.
READ MORE: No ferry? No problem for Yarmouth-to-Portland service, says MacLellan
Initially the Nova Star was supposed to get $21 million from the government over seven years. Instead, low ridership forced the McNeil government to spend $26.5 million to keep the ferry afloat in 2014. Another $13 million was given to the ferry in 2015, bringing the total spent on the Yarmouth ferry service to $39.5 million.
In September, Transportation Deputy Minister Paul LaFleche told the legislature’s economic development committee that the government wants the subsidy to go below $13 million a year, and ideally sit in the “single digit level.”
HST 2 ferry specs
The ferry that Bay Ferries has been trying to secure can accommodate 866 passengers according to specifications from the ship’s builder, Austal USA. The ferry can transport 282 cars or 28 trucks and 65 cars.
It’s 106.5 metres in length and can travel up to 40 knots, according to Austal. However, the navy’s website says the ship can travel up to 33 knots.
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