PORTLAND, Maine — Owners of the ferry operating between Nova Scotia and Maine have changed plans to send the vessel to Florida in anticipation of securing a winter route for the boat.
Dennis Bailey, a spokesman for Nova Star Cruises, said the ship’s owners changed plans Friday morning. As a result, the Nova Star will leave Saturday from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, for Shelbourne, Nova Scotia.
Bailey said in an email that the decision was made “to accommodate advances in discussions to secure a winter route for this season, and the availability of a berth in Shelburne.”
Details of that winter route, still under negotiation, were not disclosed.
The ship had previously charted a course for Fort Pierce, Florida. Bailey said in October that was one of a few possible destinations for the ferry, which had the destination listed in ship identification data at the websites vesselfinder.com and marinetraffic.com.
That destination was changed to Shelburne early Friday. Bailey confirmed earlier in the morning that the ship had been headed for Fort Pierce, Florida, to save on heating costs while work on negotiating a winter route moved ahead.
Securing a winter route would keep revenue coming to the Portland-Nova Scotia service that struggled after a late start to its first season, spending all of a $21 million subsidy from the province of Nova Scotia that was intended to last seven years and then requiring another $5 million extension to pay bills from the first season.
The service had anticipated getting a $5 million line of credit with help from state officials in Maine, but that never came to pass. A spokeswoman for Gov. Paul LePage said in October that the governor is working on a bill to allow the state to extend that line of credit, though just how the state would fund the $5 million credit line was not identified at the time.