Bay Ferries - Gulf of Maine

Gulf of Maine

Bay Ferries operated ferry service across the Gulf of Maine from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, to Bar Harbor, Maine, and from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, to Portland, Maine, using a high speed catamaran ferry service using the marketing name "The Cat".

This ferry route was initiated in 1955 by the Government of Canada at the insistence of tourism operators and fish exporters in southwestern Nova Scotia. Throughout the 19th century and early 20th century, steamship service from Yarmouth to New York City, Boston and Portland, Maine, had been provided by various operators, lastly the Dominion Atlantic Railway, subsequently Canadian Pacific Railway. The resurrected service in 1955 saw new ferry terminals constructed in Yarmouth and Bar Harbor and used the newly commissioned ferry MV Bluenose, named after Nova Scotia's famous racing schooner Bluenose.

The service was operated by Canadian National Railways (later Canadian National Railway) and in 1977 was included in the CN reorganization which created CN Marine. In 1982 a newer vessel MV Stena Jutlandica was purchased and renamed MV Bluenose (replacing the previous vessel). In 1986 CN Marine became Marine Atlantic which continued to operate the service, although it was scaled back to a seasonal May–October operation by the mid-1990s. Since the Gulf of Maine service operated to the United States, the vessel was not owned by the Government of Canada and was solely the responsibility of CN and later Marine Atlantic.

Following government-mandated service cutbacks to Marine Atlantic in the mid-1990s, Bay Ferries was formed as a subsidiary of NFL and successfully bid for the right to operate the Yarmouth-Bar Harbor route. Upon taking control of the operation in 1997, Bay Ferries continued to operate the MV Bluenose that year, after which it was sold.

Bay Ferries entered into a purchase agreement in late 1997 with Incat in Hobart, Australia, for the Incat 056, a wave-piercing catamaran ferry operating on the Melbourne-Devonport service by TT-line) under the brand name "Devil Cat." Upon acquisition of the vessel in 1998, Bay Ferries began using the term "The Cat" for its Yarmouth-Bar Harbor service in logos on the vessel and in Bay Ferries marketing material. "The Cat" is merely the marketing name for the ferry service operated by Bay Ferries, and not the name of the vessel, which remains HSC INCAT 046. The introduction of HSC INCAT 046 to the Gulf of Maine met with great publicity and interest among Canadian and American media as this was the first, and currently the fastest (41 knots), large-capacity high-speed ferry in North America, cutting the trip time between the two ports from six hours on a conventional vessel to less than three hours. In 2002, Incat 046 was sold and the current vessel HSC The Cat replaced it.

The high speed ferry can operate between the ports in 2 hours and 30 minutes, compared with a crossing time of over 6 hours using a conventional ferry vessel. The high-speed service is seasonal and does not operate during the late fall, winter and early spring when severe ocean storms could inhibit crossings, although the conventional vessels were year-round services for many years.

The Government of Canada maintains ownership of the ferry terminals in Yarmouth (through Transport Canada) and Bar Harbor (through Marine Atlantic Inc.) but has leased the management and operating rights to Bay Ferries.

In spring 2005 rival Gulf of Maine ferry operator Scotia Prince Cruises announced that it was cancelling its Portland, Maine-Yarmouth service offered by a conventional vessel, M/S Scotia Prince, as a result of toxic mould problems at its ferry terminal in Portland, the old Portland Marine Terminal. The city of Portland was in the process of constructing a replacement ferry terminal, but it assumed that financial difficulties would prevent Scotia Prince Cruises from returning to the Yarmouth service and entered into discussions with Bay Ferries about expanding its Gulf of Maine service to include Portland, in addition to Bar Harbor. An announcement was made in late summer that Bay Ferries would include "The Cat" service to both ports from Yarmouth beginning in 2006 using HSC INCAT 059.

Beginning with the 2006 and continuing into the 2007 operating seasons, the Government of Nova Scotia provided an annual $1.5 million subsidy to Bay Ferries due to declining passenger revenue and increased fuel expenditures. The subsidy was increased by the provincial government for the 2008 operating season to $6.0 million to account for rising costs and further declines in revenue. It is unknown how much of a subsidy was provided for the 2009 operating season but it is believed to surpass the 2008 amount. The company has received subsidies totaling $18.9 million since the fall of 2007.

On December 18, 2009 Bay Ferries announced that it was ending its Gulf of Maine service from Yarmouth to Bar Harbor and Portland after the Government of Nova Scotia ended the subsidies, resulting in approximately 120 jobs being lost. Bay Ferries had been seeking approximately $6.0 million for the 2010 operating season but the provincial government declined, citing financial difficulty. The disposition of HSC INCAT 059 is unknown.

As of June, 2010, HSC INCAT 059 could often be seen docked at its former terminal in Bar Harbor. It has since been purchased by Taiwan and is now called Hai Xia Hao and is a passenger / vehicle ferry operated by Fujian Cross Strait Ferry between Taichung and Pingtan Island.