Marketing, employment recruitment are things on tap for new ferry

Marketing, employment recruitment are things on tap for new ferry

The chief operating officer for Quest Navigation says they will start recruitment efforts “very soon” for aspects of employment associated with a new ferry service between Yarmouth and Portland, but when it comes to locals being employed on the vessel itself, it’ll likely be a throwback to the days of the Scotia Prince as opposed to the Cat.
There were a fair number of people from Yarmouth employed on both the Cat ferry, and on the Bluenose ferry before that. Asked if there will be Yarmouth people employed on the Nova Star – the vessel that will sail between Yarmouth and Portland – Steve Durrell says, “There certainly will be some. I think a better parallel to draw for employment would be that of the Scotia Prince, that’s the level of employment because we’ll be using the same ship’s operator as the Scotia Prince, the International Shipping Partners.”
But jobs on the ferry itself aren’t the only ones to be associated with the new service. When it was announced in August that STM Quest was the successful proponent of the ferry bid process, cell centre jobs for reservations were part of the package.
“We’re going to start our recruitment very soon for the work, both in Portland and in Yarmouth. We’ll be having call centres set up, but also when the vessel arrives is when most of the work will commence and the jobs will be created from vendors to suppliers," said Durrell.Answering reporters’ questions by telephone during a Nov. 12 Halifax news conference announcing that the ferry deal had officially been signed between the province and STM Quest Inc., Durrell said about employment recruitment timeframes, “I can’t give you a more concrete timeline right now but obviously we want to be starting to take passenger bookings early in the year, so we’ll need to be manned up and trained well in advance of that.”
 Durrell said the target is for the ferry service to begin in May 2014 and that despite all of the work that lies ahead, they are “extremely confident” they will meet that target. Another area where work needs to move at an aggressive pace is marketing. Durrell said work on the marketing front is already underway.



“We’ve been working on price structures, but certainly we’ve got more details on our service, including fare structure, vacationing packages, and some other passenger tourism operator information, (that) is going to be available in the next few weeks,” he said. “We’re going to be holding events both in Portland and Nova Scotia where those details will be provided to the industry.”
He added they’ve been working diligently on marketing aspects since late summer.
“We can actually say that there are a number of key marketing advertisements that have been secured, including the key publications in both and Maine and Nova Scotia,” Durrell said.
The ferry will leave Yarmouth at 9 a.m. Atlantic time, arriving in Portland at 5 p.m. Eastern time. It would depart Portland at 8 p.m. Eastern time, arriving in Yarmouth at 7 a.m. local time.
Nova Star Cruises estimates that more than 100,000 passengers will step aboard the brand new, 161-meter cruise ferry, Nova Star, in the first year of operation.
The cruise ferry service will operate under the brand name Nova Star Cruises and is aiming to provide daily round-trip service within 24 hours, from May 1 to Nov. 2 next year.
Nova Scotia Economic and Rural Development and Tourism Minister Michel Samson says a marketing strategy was part of the proposal that STM Quest had brought forward when it sought to become the operator of a ferry service. However, this doesn’t mean all of the marketing will be left to the company, he said.
“Obviously we are going to endeavor in conjunction with our tourism agency to work at identifying the markets there and to ensure that this new service is going to properly promoted,” Samson said.
Yarmouth MLA and Natural Resources Minister Zach Churchill said the absence of a ferry sailing between Maine and Nova Scotia for the past few years has had a devastating effect on the economy of Yarmouth and the province. He admits it will be a challenge when it comes to marketing, but it’s not an insurmountable one.
“We’re starting again from scratch to rebuild the market in the absence of a ferry for the past four years,” Churchill said. “There are going to be challenges in the first number of years, in particular, but the province and our government is obviously committed to ensuring that this venture is a success and has the greatest economic impact possible.”
Rahul kumar gupta
PGDM , 1st Year