Nova Scotia ferry won’t sail this year
After ship’s owners reject bid, Hub group hopes for May launch
By Keith Reed, Globe Staff  |  July 27, 2005

Nova Scotia’s a no-go from Boston, at least for this year.

Several months of negotiations to bring the Scotia Prince ferry to Boston for trips to Nova Scotia ended this week, with the ship’s owners rejecting a proposal from a Boston investor group, Shores Atlantic LLC. Its failure to lease a ship ends hope for a maiden voyage from Boston in 2005 — a trip that until yesterday Shores Atlantic had said was still on track for August.
With no boat, however,……………
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Boston Globe

Nova Scotia ferry won’t sail this year
After ship’s owners reject bid, Hub group hopes for May launch
By Keith Reed, Globe Staff  |  July 27, 2005

Nova Scotia’s a no-go from Boston, at least for this year.

Several months of negotiations to bring the Scotia Prince ferry to Boston for trips to Nova Scotia ended this week, with the ship’s owners rejecting a proposal from a Boston investor group, Shores Atlantic LLC. Its failure to lease a ship ends hope for a maiden voyage from Boston in 2005 — a trip that until yesterday Shores Atlantic had said was still on track for August.
With no boat, however, the company says its only option is to regroup and look for another vessel, in hopes of starting the service in May.

”Even though we’re disappointed, no one’s interest has waned. It was very ambitious to try to start it this year, anyway,” said Eugene Hartigan, a Shores Atlantic partner. ”We’ll find a ship and be able to put a crew together and be ready.”
But beyond securing a ship, Shores Atlantic had other hurdles.

The company first talked publicly about its plans in June, when Hartigan said cruises could start in July and run through October. The ship would have departed from Boston every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the 14-hour voyage to Shelburne, Nova Scotia, returning on Tuesdays and Saturdays, with roundtrip fares of between $100 and $200 per person.
But those plans were thwarted by a slew of important arrangements that needed to be made in a short time. Shores Atlantic needed a crew, docks for loading and unloading passengers and their cars, and security plans that could win the approval of US and Canadian customs officials.

Shelburne Mayor P.G. Comeau had set a July 1 deadline for Shores Atlantic to get its go-head to sail, because the Canadian town needed time to get ready for an August launch.

Comeau said he had been willing to commit a portion of a $400,000 city development fund to construction of a ramp to allow cars to drive onto the ship. He did not return several calls seeking comment yesterday.

It was mid-July before Shores Atlantic reached an agreement to use the Boston Autoport in Charlestown for boarding, but that was scuttled when the US Customs & Border Protection Service said the facility did not have an adequate place to conduct interrogations or detain people entering the country, if necessary.

Shores Atlantic later settled on using the Massachusetts Port Authority’s Black Falcon cruise terminal in South Boston, but that meant cars were no longer part of the plan.

The Scotia Prince can carry 185 cars.

The ship, a 1,000-passenger vessel with showrooms, restaurants, and a casino, sailed from Portland, Maine, to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, until last year. Scotia Prince Cruises operated those trips, but canceled its 2005 season in April during a dispute with Portland’s city government over the condition of its docks.

That left the Scotia Prince available, and Shores Atlantic contacted International Shipping Partners, a Miami cruise ship broker that manages the Scotia Prince on behalf of its owners, which is listed on International Shipping’s website as Scotia Prince Cruises Limited.

That company could not be reached for comment; Charmaine Morris, a manager at International Shipping, declined to comment. Hartigan said Shores Atlantic never had direct contact with the Scotia Prince’s owners and hasn’t been given any explanation of why they rejected his company’s offer.

He said he and his partners will spend the next 10 months looking for a ship to lease for a May 2006 launch, and taking care of details like the security plan that will be needed to use the autoport.

”I was surprised, but that’s business,” Hartigan said. ”The window’s closed, and now it’s time to look for a new ship.”
Keith Reed can be reached at reed@globe.com.
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