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Ferry to Mexico fares well
By STEVE HUETTEL, Times Staff Writer
TAMPA -- As the Yucatan Express concludes a five-month trial run sailing between Tampa and Mexico, owners of the ferry say they're encouraged by how the business has grown and hope to resume passenger service in the fall. After a painfully slow start, the vessel carried "spectacular" loads averaging 385 passengers per cruise for the last month, said Mark Hudson, spokesman for ferry owner Scotia Prince Cruises. The company has chartered a freighter to continue weekly cargo service between Tampa and the port of Progreso on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula after the ferry completes its last trip of the season April 22. "We're certainly hoping to make some kind of positive announcement" about bringing back the ferry later this year, Hudson said. Officials at Tampa's port worked for years to attract a ferry to carry people, vehicles and cargo on the 36-hour voyage across the Gulf of Mexico to Yucatan. A local company tried five years ago but folded after just 16 trips. Last year, another operator agreed to test the waters: Scotia Prince, which runs its 322-cabin ferry M/S Scotia Prince between Portland, Maine, and Nova Scotia from May through October. Scotia Prince had pledged to return later and run year-round trips if the trial run that started before Thanksgiving proved successful. Chairman Matthew Hudson had said his initial goal was 200 passengers per cruise, and he'd be "very, very happy" with 500 at the end of the season. Initial results were disappointing. The Yucatan Express made 16 trips before getting more than 200 travelers. The second trip from Mexico to Tampa carried just 37 passengers. Two weeks later, the ferry carried 44. Numbers started picking up over the Christmas holidays. But in January, the company had to cancel trips to one of two Yucatan ports because the shipping channel proved too shallow and narrow to navigate safely. "We had a tough row to hoe," said Mark Hudson. "We had a new product run by a new company in a new market." Still, passenger loads built steadily and took off in March. Last week, the ferry carried 879 travelers on a trip to Mexico and back. Overall, the ferry carried 10,256 passengers on 51 trips through last Friday, an average of 201 a trip. "We anticipated for February and March there would be an increase with spring break . . . and as consumers gained confidence the ship would keep its schedule and arrive in port in time," said Greg Lovelace, marketing manager for the Tampa Port Authority. Cargo loads also grew over time, said Thomas Griffin of Florida Logistics Group, which runs cargo sales for the Yucatan Express. The ferry carried a steady load of used pickup trucks, tractors and boats from Tampa to Progreso. A Pennsylvania company shipped a 48-foot container loaded with pieces for bathing suits each week to a plant in Mexico, where the suits were sewn together and sent back. A variety of produce -- watermelons, cucumbers and limes -- came to Tampa in refrigerated containers, Griffin said. Scotia Prince chartered the 250-foot-long freighter, with three times the ferry's capacity, to continue cargo shipments. "Cargo shippers need and depend on year-round service," said Lovelace. "This will allow us to attract shippers who were reluctant to use (the ferry) until they were confident it would be year-round." -- Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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