June passenger count for CAT ferry shrinks by 13 per cent compared to 2017

The first ridership figures of the 2018 sailing season are in for the CAT, Nova Scotia’s highspeed ferry between Yarmouth and Portland, Maine.

Numbers released by the City of Portland show that the ferry saw 6,701 passengers this June.

That’s a drop of 976 passengers, or 13 per cent, when compared to the 7,677 passengers that rode the ferry during the same period last year.

The figures are the first numbers to be released since the province backed a plan from Bay Ferries Limited — the company that operates the CAT — to move service from Portland to Bar Harbour, Maine.

The province inked a 10-year deal with the company to operate the ferry service between Yarmouth, N.S., and Portland, Maine, back in 2016.

Although Bay Ferries operates independently of the province, the company receives an annual operating subsidy of $10 million from the province of Nova Scotia.

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The move to Bar Harbour could carry an additional cost for the Nova Scotia government.

Global News reported last month that Bay Ferries was already engaged in preliminary talks with Bar Harbour about a possible move.

Bar Harbour residents voted to allow their town to purchase a vacant ferry terminal from the Department of Transportation for US$3.5 million.

The town’s manager, Cornell Knight, told Global News that Bay Ferries estimated it will cost US$3 million to upgrade the terminal for its use, with the company offering to front the cash needed to make it happen.

Nova Scotia’s transportation minister, Lloyd Hines, confirmed earlier this month there will be a cost incurred by the move, but that the province has yet to figure out how much it will be on the hook for.

The province has previously said that it has not performed an economic impact study on the CAT, saying it was too early in the lifecycle of the operation.

Hines said that service to Bar Harbour could begin as soon as 2019 or 2020.

The lease agreement between Bay Ferries and the City of Portland is for one year. The current lease, obtained by Global News, expires on Nov. 15.

Bay Ferries has an option to renew for another year, and has to notify Portland by Oct. 15.

The Nova Scotia government put up nearly $1.5 million earlier this year to upgrade the Portland ferry terminal, as ordered by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency.

The agency had warned that without nearly US$7 million in upgrades, the facility would not meet federal standards.

The province’s investment was in equipment required to keep the ferry running this year and Hines said the equipment is portable and could be moved if need be.