PORTLAND, Maine — At least three other companies want to take over Maine-based Nova Star Cruises route from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, to Portland, according to Nova Scotia officials.
Nova Star Cruises over two sailing seasons has received $39.6 million in government subsidies to operate the May-to-October ferry service.
Brian Taylor, a spokesman for the province’s transportation minister, wrote in an email the province received four submissions by a Friday deadline to operate the ferry service in 2016. It was not clear whether that included a bid from Nova Star Cruises.
Taylor wrote the bidding was opened to provide competition to Nova Star, which has fallen short on the ridership expectations for its second season. Those projections are a key element of its business model and measure of the service’s ability to wean itself from public support.
“The province already has a provider with Nova Star Cruises. This process is to determine if there is a better option available,” Taylor wrote.
The bids submitted Friday are confidential until the province determines the bids meet the criteria of the solicitation the province sent to specific competitors. That process should take several weeks, Taylor said.
For now, those bids are confidential, he said.
One competitor emerged for the Nova Star before its 2015 season, touting company leaders who had worked with a predecessor of the Nova Star, the Scotia Prince.
Bruce McNeil, who started Canamerica Cruises to compete for the line in 2015, said in January his company was out of the running for 2015 but planned to provide an alternative for the province to consider in later years.
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