Nova Star ridership still behind expectations
The Nova Star ferry saw nearly double the number of passengers in July over the previous month, but the Portland-Nova Scotia service remained behind ridership expectations.
The Portland Press Herald reported that Nova Star Cruises, the ferry’s operator, served 13,043 passengers in July, averaging out to 217 passengers per one-way trip — an improvement over June’s 6,740 passengers with an average of 112 passengers per trip.
The company has previously said it would like to see around 250-350 passengers per one-way trip.
Nova Star Cruises said the ferry, with a more than 1,200-passenger capacity, has already served 17,255 in August, bringing the total amount of one-way tickets sold to fewer than 40,000 for the season so far. That leaves the ferry service with the rest of August, September and October to reach its 100,000-passenger goal for the first season.
The ferry service has already received the $21 million in subsidies from the Nova Scotia government it was originally expected to receive over a seven-year period. The Town Council in Yarmouth, the ferry’s Canadian destination, has called on the provincial government to provide Nova Star Cruises with more funding, the Yarmouth Vanguard reported.
The state of Maine has not provided any funding, but has vowed to help the ferry find a $5 million line of credit through a Maine bank. Nova Star Cruises has sought the financing since last November.
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