Operator of Bar Harbor-Nova Scotia ferry postpones start

BAR HARBOR — Bay Ferries, the company planning to provide ferry service between Bar Harbor and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, announced Friday that the service will not be up and running by June 21, the first day the company had sold tickets for the route.

“The earliest date on which any service could commence is midsummer,” the company said in a statement. All reservations for trips prior to July 7 will be cancelled, “re-routed” or rescheduled, Bay Ferries said.

The terminal building that sat vacant since ferry service in Bar Harbor ended in 2009 has been gutted, and crews are rebuilding the interior. A new Customs Plaza, built to U.S. Customs and Boarder Patrol (CBP) standards, is going up.

Company representatives said those parts of the construction project at the ferry terminal site “are where delays have occurred.”

“All parties continue to work … to expedite the process and construction,” the news release said.

The company had been operating service between Portland and Yarmouth until last year, when its agreement with the city of Portland ended. “Remaining in Portland was not an option,” the release said, “where a commitment was required to construct entirely new border facilities.”