CAT’s season saw 38,399 passengers: Wildfires, flooding, post-tropical storms impacted 2023 numbers

YARMOUTH, NS – Bay Ferries has wrapped up its 2023 sailing season of The CAT between Nova Scotia and Maine and while in recent years it was COVID that impacted things, this season wildfires, flooding, and post-tropical storms took a toll.

The CAT, which sails between Yarmouth and Bar Harbor, made its final crossing on Oct. 9. During the season it carried 38,399 passengers and 15,348 vehicles.

This is an increase of 2,248 passengers over last season, which had been the ferry’s first year of operation following a three-year hiatus due to COVID and construction at the Bar Harbor terminal.

This year the ferry service felt the impact of other things beyond its control.

“The 2023 season was significantly impacted by several extreme weather-related events. Nova Scotia experienced a series of wildfires early in the season followed by dramatic record rainfall and flooding over the summer along with major tropical storm events,” said Bay Ferries in a media release.

“Weather has a major influence on discretionary travel and the estimated impact of the significant weather events and wildfires was a loss in the order of 5,000 passengers,” the company said.

The vessel completed 96 round trips, with 17 weather cancellations, six of which were in the last 30 days of the season. It canceled three round-trip crossings in September due to post-tropical storm Lee and had to cancel the Oct. 7 and 8 sailings in its final weekend because of post-tropical storm Phillipe.

Some passengers also decided to change travel plans on their own.

“For example, due to a storm like Lee, we would have canceled three days of sailings and tried to rebook the passengers on other days and would have some success. But the majority of passengers – approximately 70 per cent – we would just lose and they would not travel with us,” says Mark Wilson, acting Chief Executive Officer of Bay Ferries.

“We also saw considerable cancellations on the shoulder days prior to and just after storms when we were running as some people would not view the weather as favorable enough for their discretionary travel,” he says.

“I would also add that for events like the flooding and wildfires in particular regions of Nova Scotia, broader American news coverage would give the impression to travelers that this was occurring ‘in all of Nova Scotia’ and we saw cancellations around those events also,” Wilson adds.

On the plus side, Bay Ferries says The CAT ferry performed very well from an operational perspective with no mechanical cancellations.

“We had very good on-time performance.  We received very good feedback on our onboard tailored local offerings and the onboard entertainment,” Wilson notes.

Besides the large amount of Americans that used the service, there was considerable usage by people from Quebec and Ontario. 

The province contracts Bay Ferries to operate this international ferry link. Last year the province spent $17.6 million to operate the service. Unlike other ferry services in the province that receive provincial and federal subsidies, this service only receives provincial funding.

There is always much discussion on what is spent to operate the ferry service but not as much talk or data on what it contributes financially to the economy. Therefore, the provincial government is having the numbers crunched.

In September the government awarded a $180,000 contract to the newly registered consulting firm 21FSP to carry out a broad economic study of the ferry service.

“This level of detail has never been gathered before on this service, and it will help us determine if the service is providing good value to Nova Scotian taxpayers,” said Public Works Minister Kim Masland at the time of the announcement.

The study will collect data over two sailing seasons – this year and next year – with a final report expected in the fall of 2024.

Bay Ferries notes the majority of passengers on The CAT this season were US citizens representing approximately 76 per cent of all passengers.

“Prior to the pandemic, the utilization of this service by U.S. citizens was in the 80-85 per cent range. This is not surprising as Statistics Canada is reporting that overall land border vehicle travel from the United States into Canada for the summer of 2023 is still down 19 per cent from pre-pandemic levels,” the company stated in a media release.

CAT impacts

“The CAT is crucial to our tourism economy,” says Neil MacKenzie, CEO of the Yarmouth and Acadian Shores Tourism Association (YASTA) when asked about the service. “CAT passengers spend more than Atlantic Canadian travelers, on average, and stay and spend throughout the province.”

Small business owner Brandon Blades is well aware of the ferry’s impact. He operates PEBs by the Sea Glamping in Clark’s Harbour, Shelburne County, and sees direct benefit from The CAT.

“I don’t think people realize the small businesses that benefit from the ferry coming to Yarmouth,” he says.

Blades says often people who don’t see a direct benefit to themselves fail to recognize the collective benefit the service has within the economy. He says the service generates economic activity through visitors to Nova Scotia that is circulated in communities and supports tax-paying businesses. He noted early on in The CAT’S season that about 80 per cent of his bookings come from Americans using the ferry.

“My business is successful because of the passengers coming into Nova Scotia or going back to the States. They also fuel up and eat here and on their journeys around the province,” Blades says. “The ferry is like a highway. Get them here to spend money.”

As for getting them here next year, Bay Ferries is already working on next year’s schedule that should be ready by mid-November. 

“We will start marketing efforts for next season next month and plan to be live with sales by the middle of November,” says Wilson.

While about 25 per cent of travelers book their voyages on The CAT within a two-week window of their travel time, about half of the ferry’s passengers book well in advance, ranging from one to six months ahead of time, and sometimes even longer.