UPDATED 7:40 p.m. Thursday
YARMOUTH — “We have a deal,” cabinet minister Graham Steele said Thursday, unable to suppress a smile as he confirmed a May 2014 start of a new Yarmouth ferry service.
Steele used Yarmouth radio station CJLS to deliver the news to as many people as he could muster — via a live, on-air announcement.
“We have successfully concluded an agreement with STM Quest that should see ferry service between Yarmouth and Portland resuming in May 2014,” he said.
It’s great news for the entire province, said the minister of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism.
Quest Navigation Inc. of Maine and ST Marine of Singapore will team up to deliver the service as STM Quest Inc.
The newly launched Nova Star, a 161-metre cruise ferry will cross the Gulf of Maine in 10 hours or less.
Company executives from Quest were in Singapore Thursday, finalizing details for the use of the vessel.
Signatures have yet to be placed on paper, but “at this point it is just a formality,” Steele said reassuringly. “We have the deal.”
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