private company industry transportation founded 2014 location key people mark amundsen president & ceo products ferry service revenue n a can number of employees n a 2014 website www.novastarcruises.com nova star cruises limited referred to simply as nova star cruises was a ferry company operating in nova scotia and maine . their ship mv nova star was a ropax cruiseferry operating seasonally on the gulf of maine between portland maine and yarmouth nova scotia but now based in spain . the company operated as a joint venture by quest navigation of eliot maine and singapore conglomerate st marine was awarded the contract to operate the route in november 2013 when the nova scotia government agreed to issue 21 million in forgivable loans to the company over seven years . 1 the company began service on may 15 2014 . 2 during the first summer the company expected to carry 100 000 passengers but had only carried 59 000 by the time it stopped operating for the season in october . 3 as a result the nova scotia government spent the entire 21 million allocated to subsidizing the service for seven years in the first season and issued an additional 4.4 million to nova star in october subject to increased financial oversight . 3 nova star was initially laid up for winter 2015 in nova scotia but moved south to charleston south carolina in january after nova scotia provided 2 million to cover off season expenses . 4 in february nova scotia officials said that the province had developed a plan to spend 13 million to subsidize nova star during the 2015 season with the ferry operating between june 1 and october 14 . 5 during 2015 the company set a target of 80 000 passengers carried though by august it was on track to miss the goal having carried 37 800 by the end of the month 6 and the nova scotia government was working to determine whether it would contract with nova star again in 2016 . 7 four companies submitted bids to nova scotia with the province expected to select the 2016 operator of the route within weeks . 6 by 2016 the mv nova star had moved to europe and a new high speed ferry line was in operation between portland and yarmouth . 8 references edit portland to nova scotia ferry deal is finalized . portland press herald . november 12 2013 . retrieved september 29 2015 . tina comeau may 15 2014 . nova star s making its maiden voyage thursday evening . the vanguard . retrieved may 15 2014 . a b nova star ferry ends season gets money help to pay bills . portland press herald . october 15 2014 . retrieved september 29 2015 . nova scotia pitches in for off season ferry expense . portland press herald . january 19 2015 . retrieved september 29 2015 . nova scotia to subsidize nova star ferry for second season . portland press herald . february 4 2015 . retrieved september 29 2015 . a b nova scotia receives 4 bids for ferry service to portland . portland press herald . september 28 2015 . retrieved september 29 2015 . after two lackluster years nova star ferry s future still up in the air . portland press herald . august 21 2015 . retrieved september 29 2015 . http www.wmtw.com news highspeed ferry makes first stop in portland 40072756 external links edit nova star cruises official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title nova star cruises & oldid 725613559 categories ferry companies of nova scotiaferry companies of maine navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 16 june 2016 at 19 42 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view