Post by ferryfast admin on Feb 6, 2012 16:07:11 GMT -5
Not looking good for ferry in 2012
By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
www.thevanguard.ca/News/2012-02-06/article-2887070/Not-looking-good-for-ferry-in-2012/1
www.NovaNewsNow.com
For two years people have hoped for a new ferry service, but with another summer season approaching once again it’s not looking hopeful.
“We’ve exhausted our search for ferries,” Keith Condon, chair of the Nova Scotia International Ferry Partnership, told the Vanguard last week when asked where things stand at this point on the ferry front.
But the group that has been tasked with the hunt for a new ferry service still won’t definitively say it’s not going to happen this year.
“Somebody may come forward and decide they can start up a late service, I don’t know that, so I can’t say yes or no,” Condon said,
Even though for now the signs all seem to point to a “no.”
“All I know is we don’t have an operator coming forward to do a service and we don’t have a government that is willing to put up money as of yet,” said Condon, noting the government has stated it needs to see a sound business plan first and you can’t offer that without a ferry operator in place.
But can a company commit without knowing if it will have assistance?
Although Condon won’t say no when asked if there will be ferry service in 2012, he does use the word “unlikely.”
The group has been saying since last summer that securing a new ferry service is very complex and challenging. It’s not as simple as picking up a phone and finding a boat, Condon said, even though they’ve had discussions with about a half-dozen potential operators.
According to Condon, one overseas company the Nova Scotia International Ferry Partnership has had dialogue with has “absolutely stated they had no tonnage that would work in Yarmouth, nor a desire to begin a new service.” The best they could do, he said, was to offer to help look for a vessel.
Due to the confidential nature of talks with the various companies, and the list includes Bay Ferries, Condon can’t divulge much of what has been discussed. But he will discuss generalities.
“This is a very complicated issue because you need an operator who has got a boat with the right amenities on it, the right schedule, the right size with the right depth, and then you need an operator who also has a tourism system up-to-date for both sides, in the U.S. and Canada. These things are not that easy to come by,” Condon said.
And there are other large issues that also need to be dealt with when a new service is established. Condon says the area really needs a new terminal, there has to be compliance with United States Homeland Security and there are issues to work out with Canada Customs. And the desire is to have a ferry operator commit to a service for at least a minimum of five years.
A problem, Condon said, is in those early years an operator is likely looking at losses and the province has said it won’t subsidize a ferry service like it did with the last one. But the government has indicated, Condon said, that it would be willing to provide start-up funds. He describes discussions with the province as positive.
“But the business case has to be good and substantial,” he said.
But Condon adds what is needed is for the provincial government to treat this ferry situation in the light that many feel it needs to be treated in. Condon said, in his opinion, it goes beyond having a substantial and viable business plan in place. It involves having the province recognize that this is as big an issue as the NewPage mill in Port Hawkesbury or Bowater in Queens County.
“We’re going to set out and substantiate the facts . . . deal with it through more of a presentation to the government officials to try and convince them that this is a big problem, that this is as big as a NewPage in numbers and that the cost of fixing it is far less than the gain from fixing it,” Condon said. “The bigger issues that you see in the paper, they all rush to fix them. Unfortunately Yarmouth is not viewed in that light, if it was they’d be rushing to Yarmouth to fix it so we’re going to attempt to put it in that light for them.”
Yarmouth MLA Zach Churchill agrees.
“You ask questions to government about what’s happening and they provide the same old answers, ‘we’ll look at a business case when it is brought forward’ when everyday businesses across the province are living and breathing the business case for a ferry,” Churchill told the Vanguard last Friday.
While the ferry impacts Yarmouth, the absence of one impacts the whole province, Churchill said. He noted that during a caucus meeting in Liverpool he hosted a roundtable that included representation from tourism operators on the south shore, some of whom said they have lost 50 per cent of their business. When people are laid off from their jobs, he said, that impacts the economy throughout the province.
“I think the fact that this has all been left up to our folks here in Yarmouth, local business owners, and at one time municipal units, speaks to the fact that this is not a priority for this government,” said Churchill. “It’s a province-wide issue, not just a issue local to this area, and that’s why I think the premier and his government need to be here taking a leadership role to help us get a ferry back.”
By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
www.thevanguard.ca/News/2012-02-06/article-2887070/Not-looking-good-for-ferry-in-2012/1
www.NovaNewsNow.com
For two years people have hoped for a new ferry service, but with another summer season approaching once again it’s not looking hopeful.
“We’ve exhausted our search for ferries,” Keith Condon, chair of the Nova Scotia International Ferry Partnership, told the Vanguard last week when asked where things stand at this point on the ferry front.
But the group that has been tasked with the hunt for a new ferry service still won’t definitively say it’s not going to happen this year.
“Somebody may come forward and decide they can start up a late service, I don’t know that, so I can’t say yes or no,” Condon said,
Even though for now the signs all seem to point to a “no.”
“All I know is we don’t have an operator coming forward to do a service and we don’t have a government that is willing to put up money as of yet,” said Condon, noting the government has stated it needs to see a sound business plan first and you can’t offer that without a ferry operator in place.
But can a company commit without knowing if it will have assistance?
Although Condon won’t say no when asked if there will be ferry service in 2012, he does use the word “unlikely.”
The group has been saying since last summer that securing a new ferry service is very complex and challenging. It’s not as simple as picking up a phone and finding a boat, Condon said, even though they’ve had discussions with about a half-dozen potential operators.
According to Condon, one overseas company the Nova Scotia International Ferry Partnership has had dialogue with has “absolutely stated they had no tonnage that would work in Yarmouth, nor a desire to begin a new service.” The best they could do, he said, was to offer to help look for a vessel.
Due to the confidential nature of talks with the various companies, and the list includes Bay Ferries, Condon can’t divulge much of what has been discussed. But he will discuss generalities.
“This is a very complicated issue because you need an operator who has got a boat with the right amenities on it, the right schedule, the right size with the right depth, and then you need an operator who also has a tourism system up-to-date for both sides, in the U.S. and Canada. These things are not that easy to come by,” Condon said.
And there are other large issues that also need to be dealt with when a new service is established. Condon says the area really needs a new terminal, there has to be compliance with United States Homeland Security and there are issues to work out with Canada Customs. And the desire is to have a ferry operator commit to a service for at least a minimum of five years.
A problem, Condon said, is in those early years an operator is likely looking at losses and the province has said it won’t subsidize a ferry service like it did with the last one. But the government has indicated, Condon said, that it would be willing to provide start-up funds. He describes discussions with the province as positive.
“But the business case has to be good and substantial,” he said.
But Condon adds what is needed is for the provincial government to treat this ferry situation in the light that many feel it needs to be treated in. Condon said, in his opinion, it goes beyond having a substantial and viable business plan in place. It involves having the province recognize that this is as big an issue as the NewPage mill in Port Hawkesbury or Bowater in Queens County.
“We’re going to set out and substantiate the facts . . . deal with it through more of a presentation to the government officials to try and convince them that this is a big problem, that this is as big as a NewPage in numbers and that the cost of fixing it is far less than the gain from fixing it,” Condon said. “The bigger issues that you see in the paper, they all rush to fix them. Unfortunately Yarmouth is not viewed in that light, if it was they’d be rushing to Yarmouth to fix it so we’re going to attempt to put it in that light for them.”
Yarmouth MLA Zach Churchill agrees.
“You ask questions to government about what’s happening and they provide the same old answers, ‘we’ll look at a business case when it is brought forward’ when everyday businesses across the province are living and breathing the business case for a ferry,” Churchill told the Vanguard last Friday.
While the ferry impacts Yarmouth, the absence of one impacts the whole province, Churchill said. He noted that during a caucus meeting in Liverpool he hosted a roundtable that included representation from tourism operators on the south shore, some of whom said they have lost 50 per cent of their business. When people are laid off from their jobs, he said, that impacts the economy throughout the province.
“I think the fact that this has all been left up to our folks here in Yarmouth, local business owners, and at one time municipal units, speaks to the fact that this is not a priority for this government,” said Churchill. “It’s a province-wide issue, not just a issue local to this area, and that’s why I think the premier and his government need to be here taking a leadership role to help us get a ferry back.”