Fast Ferry Deal Set, Ending a Long Path

Dockage and Parking Agreements Part of the Package that Will Establish New Service Starting Next Spring

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

The high-speed ferry deal is done - or almost done.

Final agreements were signed this week that are now expected to clear the way for high-speed passenger service between New Bedford and the Vineyard beginning next summer.

"This signing ends a quest for our community to re-establish ferry service to the Islands since service ended in 1960," declared former New Bedford city solicitor George Leontire in a press release issued this week. Mr. Leontire, who is now a member of the port council for the boat line, also announced that he will step down at the next SSA meeting this month. The meeting will be held in New Bedford on Sept. 18.

New Bedford city officials, Steamship Authority managers and a spokesman for the private company that will run the service were all on hand for the contract signing, which took place in New Bedford on Wednesday afternoon.

"Today's signing ends six years of hard work by the city of New Bedford," said Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz Jr. in the press statement.

Boat line governors voted at their meeting last month to approve the license agreement with New England Fast Ferry LLC, a newly formed private consortium. The company plans to run two 150-passenger high-speed ferries between the State Pier in New Bedford and the Vineyard year-round.

"We're really excited about getting into this venture, and we're looking forward to providing good service to the Vineyard and New Bedford and to creating a new link that we think will benefit everybody," said Andrew Langlois, a partner in New England Fast Ferry.

The license deal is still contingent on an elaborate plan to convert the passenger ferry Schamonchi to a private operation. The plan is aimed at allowing the boat line to make an end-run around the Pacheco Act, the state privatization law that now applies to the SSA.

The deal has a number of other working parts that are all now complete, including:

* A dockage agreement between the SSA and New England Fast Ferry for the use of boat line terminals in Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven.

* A dockage agreement between the city of New Bedford and New England Fast Ferry for the use of the State Pier in New Bedford.

* An agreement between the city of New Bedford and the SSA for sharing revenues from a city-owned parking lot near the State Pier.

SSA chief executive officer Fred C. Raskin said New England Fast Ferry will pay the boat line $45,000 a year for the use of the piers and terminals in Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven. The company will pay New Bedford $25,000 a year for the use of State Pier.

In the parking deal, the SSA and the Whaling City will split net parking revenues 50-50 for the first two years; after two years the split will change to 60-40 with the larger share going to New Bedford. Mr. Raskin said the city and the boat line have agreed on a standard operating cost of $260,000 a year. This is the amount that will be deducted from the gross parking revenues before dividing up the remainder between the city and the boat line. He said the city will assume all responsibility for staffing and maintenance at the parking lot. Located near the State Pier, the lot can accommodate some 850 cars, Mr. Raskin said.

Meanwhile, service on the Schamonchi will end this weekend after a dismal season. Mr. Raskin said traffic on the Schamonchi is still down about 27 per cent from last year, and any hoped-for improvement in August did not pan out.

"Things are not improving - they're getting worse. August is worse than July - the numbers are just falling off the table," he said.

Service on the Schamonchi will end on Sept. 8, a month earlier than planned. Boat line governors voted two months ago to end the service early in an effort to stem the spiraling operating losses on the ferry. The Schamonchi has lost more than $800,000 a year since the boat line bought the boat three years ago for $1.7 million from former owner Janet Thompson.

The decision to shorten the season on the Schamonchi was aimed at saving about $200,000, but Mr. Raskin said yesterday that he expects the losses to top $800,000 again this year. "My instinct is we're probably going to do a little worse," he said.

The last piece of the high-speed ferry puzzle is the plan to convert the Schamonchi to a private operation. Eventually the boat line will put out a request for proposals (RFP), but first the boat line must vet its numbers with the state Executive Office of Administration and Finance. Under the Pacheco Law, a state agency may convert an operation from public to private only if it can show that there will be a cost savings.

The boat line plans to offer a subsidy of up to $250,000 to a private operator to take over the Schamonchi. "If you're going to outsource you have to show that you will save real money - so we will work up the numbers and say this is how we're going to save money," Mr. Raskin said.

"I think we can show the state pretty easily that there will be a savings by going from a cost of $600,000 to $800,000 to a cost of $250,000," he added.

New England Fast Ferry is expected to put in a proposal on the Schamonchi, if only because of a forceful term in the license agreement with the boat line.

The Steamship Authority has agreed to indemnify New England Fast Ferry against losses in the event of a violation of the Pacheco Act - but the protection clause applies only if New England Fast Ferry puts in a bid to take over the Schamonchi.

"We have to do it - we will be putting in a bid," said James Barker, a partner in New England Fast Ferry, following the boat line meeting on Nantucket last month.

In the end, Mr. Raskin said yesterday that while the whole deal may be a complicated piece of work, it is the right deal for the public boat line.

"I wish them good luck - this is their kettle of fish, so to speak. I know I've got a good operator in there," he said, referring to New England Fast Ferry. "I hope they do well, but quite frankly I still have some concern about whether there is a real market for this. And that's why I think we have done our job in protecting our core function."