Spirit of Ontario I

Spirit of Ontario I is a high-speed catamaran passenger-vehicle ferry built by Austal Ships. During the summer of 2004, the vessel operated an 82 nautical mile service on Lake Ontario linking the ports of Toronto, Ontario and Rochester, New York.

Contents

1 Vessel Specifications 2 Canadian American Transportation Systems 2.1 Service suspension 3 Bay Ferries Great Lakes Limited 4 Compare 5 External links

Vessel Specifications

The Spirit of Ontario I was Austal's seventh build of the "Auto Express 86" design and measures 86.6 metres in length, with a beam of 23.8 metres. The vessel's beam is specifically designed to meet the requirements for transiting through the St. Lawrence Seaway locks and canals to reach Lake Ontario. Spirit of Ontario I has a gross tonnage of 6,242 and a capacity for 774 passengers with 238 car-equivalents (or a maximum of 10 trucks and 150 cars). The vessel is powered by four 8,200 KW diesel engines which drive four waterjets, giving a maximum speed of 45 knots when fully loaded. Onboard passenger amenities include a cafeteria, two bars, two movie theatres, a children's play room, an arcade, and television and broadband Internet service provided via satellite.

The vessel left Perth on February 17, 2004, crossing the Pacific Ocean and transiting the Panama Canal, reaching New York City on April 1, 2004. The vessel's aluminum hull was slightly damaged while docking for a public relations event at the South Street Seaport, forcing Austal to perform emergency repairs before continuing on through the Gulf of St. Lawrence and St. Lawrence Seaway, arriving in Rochester on April 27, 2004.

Canadian American Transportation Systems

A high speed ferry service between the two ports was discussed and spearheaded by local politicians and business leaders, primarily in upstate New York, beginning in the 1990s and continuing until the early 2000s. The city of Rochester actually built a ferry terminal in speculation of such a service being implemented; following this development, a group of investors formed a U.S. company named Canadian American Transportation Systems (CATS) which then entered into a contract to build a vessel of a catamaran design with Austal Ships in Perth, Australia in 2003.

The service was heavily promoted with a summer 2004 start-up. As part of their promotional activities, CATS marketers created a competition for free boarding passes whereby members of the public could submit suggestions for the service's official "nickname". The winning entry was "The Breeze" and many people assume this is the name of the vessel, however its registered name remained Spirit of Ontario I and "The Breeze" was only a CATS marketing gimmic and registered trademark for the service itself.

The ferry service had been scheduled to begin in early May but delays were caused by the hull repairs in New York City, as well as several unrelated events:

• Unexpected engine repairs in May and early June, 2004.
• A dispute over payment for Canadian customs services in Toronto. The federal government in Canada passed a law in the 1990s whereby any privately owned new border crossing point such as a ferry service or private toll bridge must pay for its customs services at no cost to Canadian taxpayers.
• Ongoing construction of a ferry terminal in Toronto. A temporary terminal building and parking lot was rushed into service for the June 2004 service start-up while construction of a permanent passenger terminal began. The permanent terminal for use by passenger/vehicle ferries and passenger cruise ships was completed in early 2005 and is located adjacent to the old temporary terminal at the Cherry St. slip in Toronto's inner harbour. The Cherry St. slip location is controversial as it is located in a former industrial area approximately 2 kilometres southeast of the downtown and has no convenient public transit connections for pedestrians.

The accumulated delays pushed the start-up date for CATS back to June 17, 2004. In the meantime, the Lake Express, a much smaller high speed catamaran ferry, also built by Austal Ships (in Alabama), went into service on Lake Michigan, laying claim to being the first high speed ferry service on the Great Lakes.

While in service from June-September, 2004, Spirit of Ontario I made several round trips daily with a total crossing time of 2.5 hours including loading/discharging and customs/immigration clearance. The service had low ridership initially in July due to the uncertainty over start-up earlier in the spring, and from poor marketing and highway signage in Toronto, but was carrying close to full capacity by early August. The service had reportedly carried over 100,000 passengers by September.

Service suspension

Unfortunately service was suspended indefinitely on September 7, 2004 with CATS citing financial problems related to initial delays in getting the vessel operational and missing its first service launch date in May. This was compounded by several problems:

• The slow progress by the Toronto Port Authority in constructing its permanent ferry terminal. The delays in getting even temporary terminal facilities built in Toronto during the spring of 2004 was another reason for forcing a delay in starting the service until mid-June.
• CATS felt that it was being charged excessive Canadian customs and immigration costs. U.S. port of entry services were being provided in Rochester at no cost to CATS whereas Canadian port of entry services had to be completely covered by the company, resulting in a hidden charge on each ticket price.
• CATS blamed U.S. customs for not giving approval for the Spirit of Ontario I to carry freight trucks and express cargo, claiming that this altered the original business plan.
• CATS endured criticism from both nations for a decision to have Spirit of Ontario I registered under the flag of Bahamas, a flag of convenience nation, allegedly for taxation purposes. CATS was able to do this since the vessel was operating in an international service; additionally, since the Spirit of Ontario I was a foreign-built vessel, CATS would have had to pay significant penalties were it to register the vessel in either Canada or the U.S. (particularly the U.S., given the domestic-content restrictions of the Jones Act).
• Because of the foreign flag registry for Spirit of Ontario I, CATS was required to pay for pilotage services on every crossing (approx. $6000 per crossing). Canadian and U.S. registered vessels are exempt from requiring the services of pilots while navigating on the Great Lakes.

Bay Ferries Great Lakes Limited

Following the CATS bankruptcy, the Spirit of Ontario I remained docked and under arrest at the ferry terminal in Rochester, New York throughout the fall and winter of 2004-2005. On February 28, 2005 the vessel was sold for $32 million (USD) at a bankruptcy auction administered by the United States Marshals Service; the winning bidder was the "Rochester Fast Ferry Company LLC", a subsidiary of the city of Rochester.

Rochester Fast Ferry Company LLC announced in April 2005 that Northumberland Ferries Limited, parent company of Bay Ferries Limited, was selected to manage and operate the ferry service and vessel. NFL formed Bay Ferries Great Lakes Limited to operate the service, originally with a start date of June 17, 2005.

Rochester Ferry Company LLC, Bay Ferries Great Lakes Limited, and the manufacturer of Spirit of Ontario I's main engines, MTU Friedrichshafen, announced an agreement in April 2005 whereby Rochester Ferry Company LLC will pay $1.3 million USD to MTU in order to keep the vessel's drive systems under warranty.

The vessel was sailed to the Port Weller Dry Dock in St. Catherines, Ontario for a hull inspection, re-painting, and minor repairs. Originally, the ferry was expected back in Rochester around May 25. However, a problem was discovered with the propulsion system, requiring software reloads before the ship can return. The vessel is now expected to return to Rochester the weekend of June 4, 2005.

The former name for the service, "The Breeze", has been dropped and will be replaced with "The Cat", which is the same marketing name as sister company Bay Ferries Limited has used on the Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to Bar Harbor, Maine high speed ferry service since 1998.

The original launch date of June 17th has been scrapped, with a new expected launch date sometime after June 24. Persons who purchased tickets for the cancelled voyages are being given the opportunity to book a later date for half price. Bay Ferries does not intend on announcing a new start date until current problems are resolved.

Once the vessel returns to Rochester, a total of 2-3 weeks of work remain before launch. Some of the punch list items include:

• MTU's engine repair and maintenance work is continuing.
• Rochester Ferry Company LLC intends to have the vessel's registration changed from Bermuda to the United States flag in order to avoid the Great Lakes pilotage requirement.
• Crew training and emergency drills need to be performed. As more than 90 percent of the crew worked for CATS last year, this is not expected to be a lengthy process. Additionally, training is ongoing at both Port Weller and the Port of Rochester while repairs continue.

Compare

• Chi-Cheemaun, a ferry on Lake Huron

External links

• Bay Ferries Limited (http://www.nfl-bay.com/english/fast/index.html)
• Rochester Ferry Company (http://www.rochesterferrycompany.com/)
• City of Rochester Ferry page (http://ferry.cityofrochester.gov/)
• Austal's datasheet (http://www.austal.com/datasheets/Product-86m-Ferries-Veh-Pass-Spirit.pdf)