$13M more for ferry, Nova Scotia announces
In its first two months, the Nova Star car ferry blew through a $21.5-million government loan that was supposed to last seven years — and then tore through another $7.5 million in provincial money by season’s end.
In fact for 2014, it cost Nova Scotia taxpayers $482 for every one of the 59,018 passengers who took the 10-hour ferry between Yarmouth, N.S., and Portland, Maine; two places that, incidentally, are 12.5 hours apart by road.
On Wednesday, in front of a cheering crowd in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia’s tourism minister announced yet another $13 million in government money for the vessel that critics say is set to join the Bluenose II in the annals of Nova Scotia boat boondoggles.
The boat is indeed bringing in tourists, but “at $13 million, that’s a $1,300 subsidy per hotel room night,” said retired politician and prominent Nova Star critic Bill Black.
“Or if you had twice as much traffic it’s $650 a night, which is still ridiculous.”
Originally constructed as a French cargo ferry, the Nova Star was brought to Nova Scotia to resurrect a Yarmouth-to-Portland ferry route that was phased out in 2009 when the then-NDP government discontinued its subsidy.
The company charges $94 for a one way adult fare and expects to collect $12-million in passenger revenue for 2015. Its inaugural season cost $30.2 million.
Unlike the many other ferries criss-crossing the islands and peninsulas of the Atlantic Coast, the Nova Star cannot be characterized as a critical piece of transportation infrastructure.
In fact, by hopping a shorter ferry to New Brunswick, Yarmouth motorists can actually beat the Nova Star to Portland by more than an hour.
But the idea with the Nova Star, as outlined in a 2011 viability study, was to provide a service that would be an “an attraction in itself,” a relaxing cruise that would bring visitors to Nova Scotia’s economically depressed southern regions.
“This summer almost 60,000 visitors came and went to your town and those that surround it around the beautiful South Shore,” Liberal Tourism Minister Michel Samson told Yarmouth Wednesday as he announced the bump in funding for the Nova Star.
In an accompanying press statement, Mr. Samson noted that the subsidy is “less than half ” of what was offered in 2014 and that “Nova Star has a plan to get costs down and revenue up, and they’ve told us they can operate the season with this amount.”
A recent provincial report found that the Nova Star may have been responsible for an $11-million bump in hotel revenue and a 19% increase in New Englanders, but it has come at a mammoth price.
“This ferry is big, big money for a province this size, especially considering the size of the economy in the region where it’s operating,” said Kevin Lacey, Atlantic director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
He also noted that if the Nova Star ’s operators go bust next year, “we will have flushed all that money down the toilet.”
Less touted is the fact that as the Nova Star pipes in Maine tourism dollars, it’s also funnelling plenty of Nova Scotia dollars into the U.S.
“Nova Scotians vacationing in New England instead of here is not a win,” said Mr. Black.
The Nova Star also buys its fuel and much of its provisions in the United States, including pastries and — most galling to Nova Scotians — lobster.
Over the winter, it cost $2.5 million to berth the ship in Charleston, S.C.
As Maine legislators continue to stall on a promise to pipe $5 million toward the ferry, the Americans have received these perks essentially for free, aside from a few thousand dollars in terminal upgrades.
On Wednesday, a Nova Scotia government press release read simply “since Maine benefits from the ferry, government expects the state to deliver on its commitment to contribute $5 million.”