Nova Scotia officials seek Maine's support for ferry service
A delegation from Nova Scotia that included the Canadian province’s transportation minister met with state and local officials Thursday to discuss support for the ferry service between Portland and Nova Scotia
Maine Public Broadcasting Network reported that Nova Scotia Transportation Minister Geoff MacLellan and three other delegates met with Gov. Paul LePage to discuss how much financial support the state might provide for the Nova Star ferry service between Portland and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The ferry is getting $13 million (Canadian) in funding this year from Nova Scotia's provincial government, with an expectation that Maine will provide its own $5 million line of credit as well. But in late May George Gervais, commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, dispelled that notion, telling the Portland Press Herald that it's up to the ferry operator to obtain a loan on its own by going to a commercial lender.
MacLellan told Portland officials that the state officials he met with intend to visit Nova Scotia soon “to really sit down at a very senior level and start ironing out what are the relationship components, how do we work with tourism, how do we work on the operating side, what we can do to make sure that this service is viable and sustainable. So that's where we're at," according to the MPBN report.
The ferry service passenger, which is in its second season, expects more than 80,000 people will travel between Portland and Yarmouth this season. Last year, Nova Star received $21 million (Canadian) from the provincial government — subsidies it was originally supposed to receive over a seven-year period — and closed its season three weeks early due to lower-than-expected passenger bookings.
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