Post by ferryfast admin on Jan 19, 2008 23:36:01 GMT -5
January 17, 2008
New, mystery bidder for ferries
Passengers optimistic about future; some trips canceled today in unrelated matter
By MICHAEL L. DIAMOND
BUSINESS WRITER
www.app.com/
The parent company of SeaStreak America Inc. has broken off negotiations with Trinidad and Tobago for the sale of four ferries and turned its attention to a bid from an unnamed U.S. company, a spokesman said Wednesday.
The announcement was met with optimism from passengers who have feared they would lose the four high-speed catamarans that ferry them from Atlantic Highlands and Highlands to Manhattan.
"From what I've heard, this is a profitable ferry line, so it has intrinsic value," said John Kelleher, a passenger from Rumson. "As long as they keep it as it is, that's the best outcome. We kind of don't care who owns it as long as our interests are aligned and they operate it at a high level."
Separately, SeaStreak canceled some of its runs Wednesday, and said it was canceling more trips scheduled for this morning, because it is waiting for the Coast Guard to certify one of the vessels, said David Stafford, SeaStreak's general manager.
SeaStreak's fate has been uncertain since Bermuda-based Sea Containers Ltd., its parent company, became overburdened with debt and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2006. It pledged to sell what it deemed to be noncore assets, including SeaStreak.
The vessels appeared to be slipping away when newspapers in Trinidad and Tobago last fall reported that the Caribbean country was close to purchasing the boats for ferry service there.
That sparked a flurry of activity. Passengers signed petitions to keep the vessels here. Local elected leaders wrote letters to regulatory agencies to stop the sale. And a local investment group led by Michael Gooch, a Rumson resident and SeaStreak passenger, considered making a competing bid.
Adrian Flook, a spokesman for Sea Containers in London, said the company's negotiations with Trinidad and Tobago weren't as advanced as the newspapers reported.
The company instead is in advanced negotiations with a new group. Flook declined to disclose many details Wednesday, other than to say it is a U.S. company, but not from New Jersey.
"As much as we do recognize the importance of SeaStreak, we also have a fiduciary duty to stakeholders of Sea Containers to get the best price for those assets," Flook said.
The decision of whether to continue service would be up to a potential new owner, but "the base view is, if it is profitable from a commercial point of view, it shouldn't be at risk," he said.
Gooch, the chairman and chief executive officer of the GFI Group Inc., a securities broker, was traveling Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.
SeaStreak makes 16 round trips a day between northern Monmouth County and Manhattan and is viewed as integral to making towns from Monmouth Beach to Atlantic Highlands a desirable place for commuters.
Passengers pay $42 for a round-trip ticket, twice as much as it would cost to travel by train between Middletown and New York. But many passengers say it is worth the price; the ferry makes the trip in 40 minutes, dropping them off near Wall Street. It stops in midtown 15 minutes later.
The threat of losing the catamarans prompted elected officials, including state Sen. Joseph M. Kyrillos Jr., R-Monmouth, and Rep. Frank J. Pallone Jr., D-N.J., to try to intervene by asking government agencies to block a sale to a foreign country.
It wasn't clear what steps the government could take. The U.S. Maritime Agency, for example, said it only regulates the sale of U.S. vessels that weigh more than 1,000 gross tons, which is heavier than the SeaStreak boats.
Kyrillos said he viewed the announcement that negotiations with Trinidad and Tobago have ended "with very cautious optimism. Now we need to be sure the next step is taken to keep a strong and viable service in place without any reduction in quality of service."
For today, the company canceled its 5:50 a.m. run from Atlantic Highlands to Manhattan and the 7:30 a.m. run from Sandy Hook Bay Marina to Manhattan.
The 6 a.m. departure from Highlands is delayed until 6:10 a.m., the company said.
From Manhattan, service from Pier 11 at 6:30 a.m. and 8:10 a.m., and 8:30 a.m. service from East 35th Street, was canceled.
The cancellations were made because certification of one of four vessels expired, Stafford said.
There were no mechanical problems, he said, but it was unclear when the canceled service would resume.