FALMOUTH -- The signs outside the building still say “Opening November 2017,” but the Steamship Authority’s new temporary terminal in Woods Hole will not be able to open its doors to the public until it can do so without also admitting the elements.
“It became apparent that we had to address the wind coming into the lobby from across the parking lot,” SSA general manager Robert Davis said at Tuesday’s monthly meeting of the boat line board, held in Falmouth.
The opening has been delayed until Dec. 8 due to the need for special air curtains for the doors, Mr. Davis said. “Otherwise the facility is ready to use,” he said. Air curtains, also called air doors and fly fans, are a type of fan designed to keep outside air, flying insects and airborne dirt from entering a space when doors are opened.
The temporary terminal has cost $2.6 million to date, Mr. Davis said. It will replace the existing ticket office and lobby, which are scheduled for demolition in early 2018, until the new terminal is finished.
The lobby of the old building will also remain open as a waiting area until the administrative offices are moved to the new SSA headquarters now under construction on Palmer avenue in Falmouth, Mr. Davis said. That building, a converted barn with additions, is expected to open in mid-January.
While the public isn’t getting a look at the inside of the temporary terminal yet, its exterior — enlarged, authentic nautical charts of Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket — is getting good reviews, Mr. Davis said. “People love the charts on the walls,” he said.
In other business Tuesday, Steamship Authority governors voted to extend a contract with Centerplate, the catering company that provides food, beverage, vending and merchandise services to the ferry-riding public as well as at many sports and recreation venues, the Super Bowl and other major events.
Centerplate pays the SSA sales commissions that range from 16 per cent for food and merchandise to 22.5 per cent for alcoholic beverages, with a minimum guarantee that will be set at $700,000 for 2018 and rise by $10,000 annually to $740,000 in 2020.
The Stamford, Conneticut-based caterer projects its SSA sales in 2018 to total more than $5 million, with food accounting for $3.56 million and alcoholic drinks $1.31 million. By the end of 2022, Centerplate estimates sales will top $5.63 million, with more than $4 million of that in food and $1.47 million in alcoholic beverages.
The five-year contract starting Jan. 1, 2018 includes a five-year renewal if both parties agree. Centerplate was the only company that responded to a request for food concession proposals the SSA issued in August.
The firm is also changing hands: Sodexo, the world’s second-largest catering company, is acquiring Centerplate in a bid to expand Sodexo’s U.S. presence in sports and recreation markets.
Senior vice president David Oberlander, of Centerplate’s Mashpee office, told the SSA board that the acquisition won’t change operations in this region and that after eight years of ownership by private equity firms, Centerplate management is looking forward to being part of a company that is primarily food-oriented.
“We’re very excited about it,” Mr. Oberlander said.
SSA governors also voted to reduce the annual fee paid by the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School district for school-approved group travel aboard the ferries. Formerly set at $60,000 a year, the fee is dropping to $55,000 after an audit of school group travel showed that the SSA provided an average of $111,263 in travel for each of the past two years.
Because the normal group discount rate for the Vineyard and Nantucket is 50 per cent, treasurer/comptroller Gerard Murphy recommended the fee adjustment for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.
After its regular meeting, the board voted to go into executive session to discuss union negotiations. Nearly 200 unlicensed ferry employees, including able bodied and ordinary seamen, chief cooks, oilers and wipers recently ratified their first contract with Teamsters Local 59, which already represents the SSA’s maintenance and agency/terminal workers.
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