Big reveal: could this be the new Yarmouth-Portland ferry?

USNS Puerto Rico (ex. Hawaiian Superferry Alakai) Photo credit: Wikipedia commons                               

  Bay Ferries is staying mum about what ship could be deployed between Yarmouth and Portland this spring but there is reports that a few politicians in Maine has asked if the military has any civilian ships available. They do have a few high speed catamarans and some have reported that it could be a high speed ferry formerly named Alakai. One of two catamarans that made runs between the Hawaiian islands from 2007 until 2009 and purchased by the US navy in 2012. Her sister ship Huakai never entered service to the Hawaiian islands and has been renamed USNS Guam. Currently, both ships are docked in Philadelphia at the Navy yard.

A few facts

Year built: 2007
Yard:        Austal USA, Mobile, Alabama
Length:     106 M
Width:      24 M
Draft:       3.7 M
Speed:     35 knots

There was two other catamaran ferries that connected Yarmouth to New England.  The first served Yarmouth and Bar Harbor from 1998 until 2001.  The second (pictured above) took over that run from 2002 until 2009.  The cruise ferry Scotia Prince shut down operations between Yarmouth and Portland in 2005 and The Cat took over the run the following year operating on the weekends to Portland and to Bar Harbor in the week.  The first Cat (Incat hull 046) now operates between Trinidad and Tobago owned by that Government and still operated by Bay Ferries as the T&T Express.  The second Cat (Incat hull 059) is now owned and operated by Fujian Cross Strait Ferry operating between Taichung and Ping Tan island as the Hai Xia Hao. Both ships had a service speed of 43 knots (49 knots max speed) and could do the run to Bar Harbor in less than 3 hours and Portland in approximately 5 1/2 hours.

Links of interest
Hawaii Superferry Wikipedia
Incat 059 Wikipedia
Incat 046 Wikipedia
Incat Tasmania home page (with info on the first two Cat ferries in the fleet section under 91 M and 98 M)
Radio CJLS report from February 5, 2016