Federal court orders seizure of Nova Star for unpaid services
A federal court Friday ordered that the Nova Star ferry be seized after a Portland company complained that the ferry operator owes it nearly $200,000 for pilot services.
The order issued in U.S. District Court in Portland came one day after the Nova Scotia government announced that Nova Star Cruises wouldn’t be the operator next year for the ferry service between Portland and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The provincial government said Thursday it is instead negotiating with the Canadian company Bay Ferries Ltd., which had operated the high-speed Cat ferry on the route between 2006 and 2009.
The Portland Press Herald reported that the order commands the U.S. Marshals Service to “arrest,” or take possession of the ferry.
The company that filed the complaint, Portland Pilots, told the court that Nova Star Cruises hasn’t paid any money for pilot services in Portland Harbor since Aug. 17 and owes the company $195,898, the Press Herald reported.
A spokesman for Nova Star Cruises, Dennis Bailey, told the paper that the company will “fulfill its obligations, like it always has, in the next few weeks.”
In its two seasons operating the route, Nova Star Cruises missed passenger-count expectations and received $31.5 million ($41.5 million Canadian) in subsidies from Nova Scotia.
The provincial government initially agreed to provide $21 million Canadian to the ferry service for the inaugural 2014 season, a loan that was meant to be spent over a seven-year period. But, the government ended up providing $28.5 million in the first year.
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