Nova Star ferry has slow start
The Nova Star ferry that travels between Portland and Nova Scotia has gotten off to a slow start for its inaugural season, but passenger traffic is starting to increase.
The Portland Press Herald reported that the ferry only carried an average of 100 passengers per trip from May 15-30, with a total of 2,924 passengers for that month.
The ferry can carry up to 1,215 passengers, and the ferry’s operator has previously said that it expects approximately 100,000 passengers this season. Jeff Monroe, a former port director for Portland, told the newspaper that the city’s previous Nova Scotia ferry, the Scotia Prince, would carry about 500 passengers a day during slow parts of the season.
Dennis Bailey, a spokesman for Nova Star Cruises, told the Press Herald the ferry’s slow start was anticipated because it wasn’t able to start marketing until late March, it had missed a deadline for sign contracts with bus tour companies and poor weather had discouraged travel.
However, Bailey said, advanced ferry bookings have “spiked way up” to over 1,000 per day within the last week because of improving weather conditions.
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