Ferry firm aims for spring start
Public gets peek at Shelburne-to-Boston proposal

HALIFAX HERALD August 18, 2005
By BRIAN MEDEL Yarmouth Bureau

SHELBURNE – Ferry proponents have set a target of next spring for a new service between Shelburne and Boston.

Two Shores Atlantic LLC executives Gene Hartigan and new CEO Guy Conrad of Boston outlined the proposed service at a public meeting here Tuesday.

Mr. Conrad said they’d like to begin their service next May but won’t know for a while if that is a reasonable target.

“Will you see the first ship coming in May 1? Probably not but that’s what we’re aiming for,” he said.

“This is not an easy thing to do,” said Mr. Hartigan.

“If it was, everybody would be doing it” he said.

“It is our goal that we will have a ship targeted within the next couple of months,” he said.

They’re using the firm of Hornblower Marine Services Inc. of Indiana to find them a vessel.

“Being an hour closer (than Yarmouth) to Halifax is an asset,” said Mr. Conrad about Shelburne as a port.

He spoke of using a conventional vessel and not a fast ferry. The fuel consumption is much greater in a fast craft.

A typical big ferry cruising at 33 kilometres per hour would take about 16 hours to cross to Shelburne from Boston, he said.

A Boston departure at 5 p.m. would put the ship into Shelburne the following morning where it would remain all day before sailing again at about 8 p.m. for a noon arrival back in Boston.

The autoport, in north Boston, is a likely docking area, said the Two Shores Atlantic executives.

Shelburne Mayor P.G. Comeau is expected to be in Halifax through to Friday with Two Shores Atlantic officials to talk with Premier John Hamm, Tourism Minister Rodney MacDonald, ACOA and provincial economic development officials.

Two Shores Atlantic has a group of investors waiting but the public may be invited to buy into the company.

“We’ll make that happen if there is interest,” said Mr. Hartigan.

In Shelburne, the local port authority will have to make financing arrangements to build a terminal and docking facilities to the north of the existing town wharf.

“We have selected an area well north (of the wharf) . . . up to lands we are expropriating from the CNR,” said Mr. Comeau.

The town owns a water lot of about 305 metres around the perimeter of the wharf and plans to infill the water lot and create another 1.8 hectares for berths, marshalling and holding areas and a terminal site.

The town has also purchased additional land from the Irving group and is now negotiating for more land, as the mayor said, with CN Rail. The port authority is composed of the mayor and three of six town councillors and recently approved a consultant’s report citing the need for a $10 million to $12 million expansion of the port, including docking and terminal.

Town council is expected to approve the report’s recommendations, said Mr. Comeau.

The authority would likely seek $2 million to $3 million in government assistance for port upgrades in 2006, starting with $500,000 of its own money.