Nova Star's European ferry plan in question
Courtesy Nova Star Cruises (FILE PHOTO 2013)
The Nova Star ferry now runs between Portland and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. A winter route in Europe is now under question.
After a Nova Star Cruises official said Aug. 4 that the ferry company had secured a winter route in Europe between Ramsgate, England, and Boulogne, France, local officials running a port in Ramsgate called the claim “both inaccurate and misleading,” according to the Bangor Daily News.
"This is the winter solution we've been looking for that will help make the route between Portland and Yarmouth more economically viable," Mark Amundsen, president and CEO of Nova Star Cruises, said in a press release Tuesday that also announced July passenger figures between Portland and Nova Scotia.
The BDN reported that Nova Star Cruises said it had secured a winter route for its ship with Euroferries Express Ltd., but that Euroferries had not gotten approval to operate the Boulogne-to-Ramsgate route, according to a statement from the Thanet District Council
The statement said a former company, Euroferries Ltd., which had the same director as Euroferries Express, had been reported to the Advertising Standards Authority in 2013 for misleading advertising. The complaint was upheld as the company was taking bookings for a Ramsgate-to-Boulogne service that was not operational, the statement said.
The Portland Press Herald quoted Nova Star Cruises spokesman Dennis Bailey as saying the cruise company has a signed agreement with Euroferries to lease the Nova Star for the offseason. He also told the paper that Nova Star Cruises won’t have an operational role in the proposed new service and that Euroferries assured it that the required port agreements would be obtained.
Bailey also told the Press Herald that Nova Star Cruises still plans to bring the ferry back to the Gulf of Maine for the 2016, and that if the English Channel route does not go through, Nova Star Cruises has other options for a winter route for the Nova Star.
The Nova Scotia government, which is heavily subsidizing the route between Portland and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, is scheduled to decide on Aug. 17 whether to award the 2016 contract to Nova Star Cruises or give the route to another operator, according to the Press Herald.
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