Steamship Authority governors have opted to take a hit of up to $160,000 to boat line revenues this year so high-speed services to Nantucket can be maintained in the face of falling patronage.
Steamship Authority governors have opted to take a hit of up to $160,000 to boat line revenues this year so high-speed services to Nantucket can be maintained in the face of falling patronage.
The Vineyard will lose Hy-Line Cruises’ high-speed ferry connection to Hyannis for the remainder of the season, following a major fire aboard the vessel Lady Martha last week.
Hy-Line vice president for marketing Philip Scudder said yesterday there was no way the damaged ferry could be back in service before the end of the season, Oct. 31, and he said the company’s efforts to find an alternative vessel had been unsuccessful.
The options for getting to the Vineyard, particularly at times other than the summer high season, continue to diminish.
Following the recent cutbacks in off-season high-speed services to the Island from New Bedford by the New England Fast Ferry, two more boat lines have flagged their intention to reduce the number of runs they do to the Island.
Hy-Line Cruises has notified the Steamship Authority, which licenses ferry service to the Island, that it intends to shorten by two months its operating season between the Vineyard and Hyannis.
Hy-Line Pitches Fast Ferry, Year-Round Service to Link Oak Bluffs
and Hyannis
By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer
In a move that would tie Martha's Vineyard even more closely
to the mainland, Hy-Line Cruises wants to launch year-round fast ferry
service between Hyannis and Oak Bluffs by next May.
The high-speed ferry operation proposed by the Hyannis-based company
would become the second such service started within a year between the
Vineyard and the mainland.
