Scotia Prince Cruises
Encyclopedia
Scotia Prince Cruises was a cruise ferry operator based in Maine
which owned and operated the M/S Scotia Prince. This ferry operated across the Gulf of Maine
between Portland, Maine
, and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
, until the end of the 2004 sailing season.
. The first vessel was the M/S Prince of Fundy which operated from 1970-1976. She was assisted on the route between 1973-1976 by the M/S Bolero. Between 1976-1981 the only vessel in use was the M/S Caribe.
Lion Ferry leased the International Marine Terminal from the City of Portland. At the City's request the original lease included a clause for bilateral "route protection" which prevented Lion from operating a route from any other New England port to Nova Scotia, and prevented the City from allowing another operator to sail to Nova Scotia during Lion's operating season. The City's facilities were used by other operators including cruise ships. Lion also used the Yarmouth Ferry Terminal in Nova Scotia which was owned by the federal Department of Transport, although Lion had to share its Yarmouth facility with Canadian National Railways which operated the M/V Bluenose ferry service to Bar Harbor, Maine
.
From 1978-1982, CN Marine
also operated the M/V Marine Evangeline (ex-M/S Duke of Yorkshire) between Yarmouth and another terminal owned by Canadian National Railways on the Portland waterfront.
nian-based Transworld Steamship Company. The vessel M/S Scotia Prince (ex-M/S Stena Olympica) was acquired and began service that season. In 1983, the other Yarmouth ferry operator, CN Marine
, began using a sistership M/V Bluenose II (ex-M/S Stena Jutlandica) on its Bar Harbor crossing. Prince of Fundy Cruises had the Scotia Prince lengthened in 1987 for increased capacity, changing the visual similarities between both ships. Leuhusen died in 1996 and his estate listed the company for sale in 1999.
. The company was renamed Scotia Prince Cruises. The Scotia Prince was re-flagged (Bahamas). The company upgraded the ship and onboard services in addition to other improvements made at the company. The service was repositioned from a transport provider to a transport and package vacation company. The service was marketed as a cruise-ferry and destination in its own right.
In 1997, CN Marine's successor (government-owned and subsidized) Marine Atlantic
Yarmouth-Bar Harbor service was privatized by the government and taken over, along with the M/V Bluenose, by Northumberland Ferries Limited
which established a subsidiary service named Bay Ferries Limited. At the same time, the federal Department of Transport transferred operational responsibility of the Yarmouth ferry terminal to Bay Ferries. The Bluenose II was sold at the end of the 1997 season by Bay Ferries and the proceeds were used to purchase the high-speed catamaran
ferry The Cat (Hull number Incat 046, ex Devil Cat). Service began the following summer in 1998 dropping the crossing time from 6 hours to 2.5 hours. A few years later, The Cat was replaced by a slightly larger ship, INCAT 059, though still referred to as The Cat.
During the winter of 2002-2003, Scotia Prince Cruises Ltd. inaugurated a service called the "Yucatan Express", using the M/S Scotia Prince on a route between Tampa, Florida
, in the United States
and Cancun, Quintana Roo, and Merida, Yucatán
, in Mexico
.
In 2004, the company discovered dangerous levels of mold in the City of Portland's terminal. The CDC
's National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health evaluated the terminal in March 2005. Based on toxicological and remediation reports and NIOSH's comments on the then current state of the IMT and the likelihood that the building could not be made safe, SPC cancelled its 2005 season. NIOSH's final report reiterates their on-site evaluation stating "a health hazard did exist at the IMT building" and "Additional work has been done at the remaining north (east) building of the IMT since the NIOSH site visit. However, the underlying structural defects of the building have not been addressed, resulting in a high likelihood of continued microbial growth". Within hours of SPC notifying the City that it was cancelling the 2005 season for safety reasons, the City of Portland held a press conference announcing they had terminated SPC's lease. The City immediately evicted Scotia Prince Cruises.
The company will not resume services from Portland. The ship was laid-up in Charleston, South Carolina
, in December 2004 and was placed on the market for charter or sale. Following Hurricane Katrina
, the Federal Emergency Management Agency
chartered the vessel in mid-September 2005 for 6 months as a floating hotel for victims made homeless from that natural disaster. The ship was eventually sold in early 2007. In late September 2005 it was announced that Bay Ferries Limited would begin offering high-speed service from Yarmouth-Portland in 2006 using HSC INCAT 059.
and Sri Lanka
, which had been suspended in 1983 due to the Sri Lankan civil war
. The vessel's first overnight sea crossing was on 11th June 2011, from Tuticorin to Colombo
harbour, which will be its standard route, taking 14 hours. The most expensive tickets are generally half-price compared to air tickets between Colombo and the nearest airports in south India, namely Chennai and Bangalore.
The vessel was earlier idled in a Gibraltar
dock between June 2010 and March 2011, after being briefly operated by Marmara Lines company between Ancona
and Cesme
earlier in 2010.
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
which owned and operated the M/S Scotia Prince. This ferry operated across the Gulf of Maine
Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America.It is delineated by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and Cape Sable at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast. It includes the entire coastlines of the U.S...
between Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
, and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
Yarmouth is a town and fishing port located on the Gulf of Maine in rural southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the shire town of Yarmouth County. The town is located in the heart of the world's largest lobster fishing grounds and has Canada's highest lobster catch.- History :The townsite may...
, until the end of the 2004 sailing season.
Lion Ferry
The Portland-Yarmouth seasonal (summer only) ferry service was established in 1970 by European ferry operator Lion FerryLion Ferry
Lion Ferry was a Swedish ferry company which operated passenger and freight ferry services in Scandinavia and North America.-History:1960The Prins Bertil enters service between Halmstad and Aarhus....
. The first vessel was the M/S Prince of Fundy which operated from 1970-1976. She was assisted on the route between 1973-1976 by the M/S Bolero. Between 1976-1981 the only vessel in use was the M/S Caribe.
Lion Ferry leased the International Marine Terminal from the City of Portland. At the City's request the original lease included a clause for bilateral "route protection" which prevented Lion from operating a route from any other New England port to Nova Scotia, and prevented the City from allowing another operator to sail to Nova Scotia during Lion's operating season. The City's facilities were used by other operators including cruise ships. Lion also used the Yarmouth Ferry Terminal in Nova Scotia which was owned by the federal Department of Transport, although Lion had to share its Yarmouth facility with Canadian National Railways which operated the M/V Bluenose ferry service to Bar Harbor, Maine
Bar Harbor, Maine
Bar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island...
.
From 1978-1982, CN Marine
CN Marine
CN Marine was a Canadian ferry company headquartered in Moncton, New Brunswick.-History:CN Marine was created by parent Canadian National Railway in 1977 as a means to group the company's ferry operations in eastern Canada into a separate operating division...
also operated the M/V Marine Evangeline (ex-M/S Duke of Yorkshire) between Yarmouth and another terminal owned by Canadian National Railways on the Portland waterfront.
Prince of Fundy Cruises
The service was sold by Lion Ferry in 1982 to Baron Stig Leuhusen who established Prince of Fundy Cruises as a subsidiary of PanamaPanama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
nian-based Transworld Steamship Company. The vessel M/S Scotia Prince (ex-M/S Stena Olympica) was acquired and began service that season. In 1983, the other Yarmouth ferry operator, CN Marine
CN Marine
CN Marine was a Canadian ferry company headquartered in Moncton, New Brunswick.-History:CN Marine was created by parent Canadian National Railway in 1977 as a means to group the company's ferry operations in eastern Canada into a separate operating division...
, began using a sistership M/V Bluenose II (ex-M/S Stena Jutlandica) on its Bar Harbor crossing. Prince of Fundy Cruises had the Scotia Prince lengthened in 1987 for increased capacity, changing the visual similarities between both ships. Leuhusen died in 1996 and his estate listed the company for sale in 1999.
Scotia Prince Cruises
In August 2000 the company's shares were purchased by a group led by Matthew Hudson of VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. The company was renamed Scotia Prince Cruises. The Scotia Prince was re-flagged (Bahamas). The company upgraded the ship and onboard services in addition to other improvements made at the company. The service was repositioned from a transport provider to a transport and package vacation company. The service was marketed as a cruise-ferry and destination in its own right.
In 1997, CN Marine's successor (government-owned and subsidized) Marine Atlantic
Marine Atlantic
Marine Atlantic Inc. is an independent Canadian Crown corporation offering ferry services between the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.Marine Atlantic's corporate headquarters are in St...
Yarmouth-Bar Harbor service was privatized by the government and taken over, along with the M/V Bluenose, by Northumberland Ferries Limited
Northumberland Ferries Limited
Northumberland Ferries Limited is a ferry company operating in eastern Canada and headquartered in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island...
which established a subsidiary service named Bay Ferries Limited. At the same time, the federal Department of Transport transferred operational responsibility of the Yarmouth ferry terminal to Bay Ferries. The Bluenose II was sold at the end of the 1997 season by Bay Ferries and the proceeds were used to purchase the high-speed catamaran
Catamaran
A catamaran is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas...
ferry The Cat (Hull number Incat 046, ex Devil Cat). Service began the following summer in 1998 dropping the crossing time from 6 hours to 2.5 hours. A few years later, The Cat was replaced by a slightly larger ship, INCAT 059, though still referred to as The Cat.
During the winter of 2002-2003, Scotia Prince Cruises Ltd. inaugurated a service called the "Yucatan Express", using the M/S Scotia Prince on a route between Tampa, Florida
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Cancun, Quintana Roo, and Merida, Yucatán
Mérida, Yucatán
Mérida is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Yucatán and the Yucatán Peninsula. It is located in the northwest part of the state, about from the Gulf of Mexico coast...
, in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
In 2004, the company discovered dangerous levels of mold in the City of Portland's terminal. The CDC
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
's National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health evaluated the terminal in March 2005. Based on toxicological and remediation reports and NIOSH's comments on the then current state of the IMT and the likelihood that the building could not be made safe, SPC cancelled its 2005 season. NIOSH's final report reiterates their on-site evaluation stating "a health hazard did exist at the IMT building" and "Additional work has been done at the remaining north (east) building of the IMT since the NIOSH site visit. However, the underlying structural defects of the building have not been addressed, resulting in a high likelihood of continued microbial growth". Within hours of SPC notifying the City that it was cancelling the 2005 season for safety reasons, the City of Portland held a press conference announcing they had terminated SPC's lease. The City immediately evicted Scotia Prince Cruises.
The company will not resume services from Portland. The ship was laid-up in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, in December 2004 and was placed on the market for charter or sale. Following Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
, the Federal Emergency Management Agency
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders...
chartered the vessel in mid-September 2005 for 6 months as a floating hotel for victims made homeless from that natural disaster. The ship was eventually sold in early 2007. In late September 2005 it was announced that Bay Ferries Limited would begin offering high-speed service from Yarmouth-Portland in 2006 using HSC INCAT 059.
Current status
In March 2011, the vessel was acquired by Flemingo Liners, a UAE-registered company with roots in India, to revive the ferry route between IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, which had been suspended in 1983 due to the Sri Lankan civil war
Sri Lankan civil war
The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on July 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil...
. The vessel's first overnight sea crossing was on 11th June 2011, from Tuticorin to Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
harbour, which will be its standard route, taking 14 hours. The most expensive tickets are generally half-price compared to air tickets between Colombo and the nearest airports in south India, namely Chennai and Bangalore.
The vessel was earlier idled in a Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
dock between June 2010 and March 2011, after being briefly operated by Marmara Lines company between Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
and Cesme
Çesme
Çeşme is a coastal town and the center-town of the district of the same name in Turkey's western-most end, on a promontory on the tip of the peninsula which also carries the same name and which extends inland to form a whole with the wider Karaburun Peninsula...
earlier in 2010.
External links
- Scotia Prince Cruises Limited - official website - This website is now defunct.
- NIOSH FINAL REPORT
- INCAT 046 (former Bar Harbor-Yarmouth ferry)
- INCAT 059 (current Bar Harbor-Yarmouth and Portland-Yarmouth ferry)
- Name the Ferry Contest Winner (1969-70)
- BBC: First Ferry Between Sri Lanka and India in 30 Years