Maine ferry Nova Star, ordered seized by feds, failed to attract passengers
Its projections were way off.
Expectations were high for the Nova Star’s ferry service that runs between Maine and Nova Scotia when it launched in 2014.
Too high.
Nova Star Cruises, which the Nova Scotian government cut ties with last week, projected 100,000 trips in 2014 for its province-subsidized service. It wound up with 59,000 trips and had to cancel service weeks earlier than planned due to the poor numbers.
The ferry service shortened its season and tempered its expectations in 2015, projecting 80,000 rides, according to The Portland Press Herald. But its ridership fell alongside the projection, to 52,000. Round-trip tickets on the service started at $180.
The misfire on passenger projections led to off-target financial planning as well. On Friday, a federal judge ordered marshals to seize the ferry after a Portland company claimed it’s owed about $200,000.
Ahead of the start of service in 2014, the Nova Scotian government set aside $21 million to help the service run. About $12 million was expected to go to start-up costs. The rest was supposed to last the following six years, The Bangor Daily News reported.
Instead, by late July, 2014—less than three months after its launch—Nova Star Cruises had already dipped into the last of the full $21 million, according to the Daily News. Nova Scotia paid another $10 million to help fund operations in 2015.
The province plans to replace Nova Star Cruises with a prior operator on the route next year. It originally cut ties with that operator in 2009 because it required more money to operate than the government could afford, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported at the time.
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