New Bedford Run Fails

No on License

By JULIA WELLS

Gazette Senior Writer

Steamship Authority governors voted without dissent last week to
deny a license application from a private freight hauler to run
year-round service between New Bedford and the two Islands.

"Our focus clearly needs to remain on providing for the
Islands," said SSA general counsel Steven Sayers. Mr. Sayers was
point man in the staff recommendation to deny the license application
from Seabulk International Inc.

"Philosophically I am not opposed to licensing a private
carrier operating between New Bedford and the Islands if there is a
proven fair-market approach. But there is a theme here where Seabulk is
challenging and disputing the ability of the Steamship Authority to
license and maintain the lifeline to the Islands, if you will. This sort
of attitudinal approach concerns me," said Falmouth SSA governor
Edward DeWitt.

"I think there is a place for private carriers and I hope that
New Bedford freight service will be permitted, but I think the Steamship
Authority should run it," said Barnstable board member Robert
O'Brien.

The comments came at the monthly board meeting of the SSA governors
held in Falmouth last Friday morning.

The vote to deny the license application was preceded by a prepared
outburst from New Bedford city solicitor George Leontire.

"This is completely unacceptable in a country that is
constitutionally committed to the free movement of people and goods in
interstate commerce . . . . The SSA refusal to make a commitment to
operate freight service from New Bedford reminds me of the old saying,
‘always a bridesmaid and never a bride,' "Mr. Leontire
said.

Mr. Leontire's dispute with the boat line will now return to
U.S. District Court, where a federal judge will decide whether to
dismiss the case for lack of standing, or allow it to go forward on the
merits.

"This case will certainly be ripe after today," Mr.
Leontire declared just before the vote.

Formerly Hvide Marine Inc., Seabulk is a new company formed when
Hvide was reorganized last year. Hvide is in the second year of a
contract with the SSA to run a pilot freight program between New Bedford
and the Vineyard.

In the new license request, Seabulk asked for permission to operate
year-round ferry service between New Bedford and both Islands. The
request was principally for carrying freight, but it also included a
provision for carrying cars and passengers from the two Islands back to
New Bedford. The license application was accompanied by a number of
conditional demands, including a condition that the SSA reduce its own
freight traffic to 1997 levels, and force some 8,000 trucks to use the
Seabulk service.

The company also refused to specify what boat it would use for the
service and it asked the SSA to waive a long list of public protection
measures in its own freight licensing policy.

The application grew directly out of a ruling in New Bedford's
lawsuit against the boat line. The complaint charges that the boat line
violates interstate commerce laws by regulating its competition.

Two months ago U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock gave
attorneys for the city of New Bedford two weeks to come up with a
private carrier who wants a license to run ferry service - or face
possible dismissal of the lawsuit.

Last Friday was the deadline for the boat line to act on the
application.

At the outset of the meeting Mr. Sayers gave a long presentation
including a summary of a 50-page staff report he had prepared on the
Seabulk license application. Among other things, the report included a
detailed history of the events that led to the pilot freight program now
running between New Bedford and the Vineyard. The purpose of the program
is to test the market for freight service between New Bedford and the
two Islands.

In his report Mr. Sayers said so far the market test has proven to
be costly for the SSA with no clear results about long-term viability.
But he also outlined the commitment by the boat line board to reduce
freight traffic in both the ports of Woods Hole and Hyannis.

"We have already committed ourselves to move toward the
development of an off-Cape alternative for freight. The pilot program
did reduce freight last summer, although it wasn't enough to meet
the system's goal and the cost was substantial. There is a
significant commitment to the mainland port communities, but unlike the
two Islands you don't depend on the Steamship Authority for all of
your freight needs," Mr. Sayers said, directing this last remark
at Woods Hole resident Susan Shephard, who has actively campaigned for
New Bedford service. Mr. Sayers also said:

"The question is no longer whether the authority should
proceed [with New Bedford service], the question is how the authority
should proceed, and it appears that the best approach is to be moving
forward with incremental change. We are moving trucks between New
Bedford and the Vineyard - it may not be fast enough for some and
it may be too fast for others," Mr. Sayers said.

He recommended that the SSA consider running New Bedford service
itself, drawing small cheers from employees who attended the meeting.
But Mr. Sayers also said it will be difficult to develop a policy for
deciding who goes to New Bedford, especially since all the current data
"shows that there is very little interest in going out of New
Bedford."

Mr. Sayers said one possibility is to direct certain nonperishable
commodities, but this later drew angry remarks from Mr. Leontire on the
sore subject of shipping hazardous material through New Bedford.

"It's rearing its ugly head again, and I can tell you
you are dead wrong. It's not going to happen," Mr. Leontire
said.

He repeatedly called the boat line board
"schizophrenic," and at one point he drew sharp looks from
board members when he suggested they lighten up when it comes to concern
about the financial bottom line.

"The MBTA loses money. Massport loses money. All of these
government entities lose money in the providing of services," Mr.
Leontire said.

He also said: "The 50-page management report can be summed up
by a quote made by St. Augustine in the fifth century: ‘Give me
chastity and continence, but not yet,' " he said.

Craig Johnson, the chief spokesman for Seabulk Marine, declined to
comment, because he said he had not had time to read the report.

Yesterday Mr. Johnson said he thinks the denial does not mean the
door is closed. "It seems like it's still negotiable.
We're still trying to figure out the denial and what it
means," he said.

Although he had said last month that Seabulk had no intention of
joining New Bedford as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, Mr. Johnson appeared
to change that position. "I'm not sure. It's a
possibility, I guess, but that is really up to the Seabulk
Corporation," he said. Mr. Johnson said the person who controls
the decisions for Seabulk is currently out of the country.

The meeting last week was marked by expressions of commitment toward
developing New Bedford service, including one from Vineyard SSA governor
and board chairman J.B. Riggs Parker.

"We have to solve this problem. There is no doubt that we have
commitments; we have problems at the mainland ports, and we have
problems at the Island ports. I do believe we need to make change, move
forward and discuss operations out of other ports, namely New
Bedford," Mr. Parker said.