By
Rebecca Gibson |
The Province of Nova Scotia has signed an agreement with Quest Navigation and ST Marine to re-establish the Yarmouth-Portland ferry service between Nova Scotia, Canada and Portland, Maine, US.
As part of the agreement, the Province of Nova Scotia will provide Nova Star Cruises with up to CAD21 million of financial support over seven years to assist the company with re-establishing the ferry service.
Scheduled to launch on 1 May 2014, the service will operate under the name Nova Star Cruises and provide daily roundtrips until 2 November. The new Nova Star will leave Portland each evening at 8 pm (EST) and arrive in Yarmouth at 7 am (AST) the next morning. She will depart two hours later and arrive back in Portland at 5 pm local time.
“We are looking forward to offering passengers a unique and entertaining travel experience between Yarmouth and Portland,” said Mark Amundsen, president and CEO, Quest Navigation. “Over the next few months we will continue to work full steam ahead with the province, our partners and the tourism industry to begin the ferry service in May 2014.”
Nova Star Cruises estimates that more than 100,000 passengers will use the 161m Nova Star in the first year of operation.
More details about Nova Star and the service, including fare structures and exclusive vacation packages, will be released over the coming weeks.