New T.O./N.Y. ferry exploring more truck options

TORONTO, (March 22, 2004) — The president of Canadian operations for a new ferry service between Rochester, N.Y., and Toronto said the company is gauging demand for expanded truck services.

Howard Thomas, president for Canadian-American Transportation Systems on this side of the border, says his company is in the process of conducting market research on trucking and the issues affecting the industry. CATS is examining conditions based on fuel prices, border wait times, hours of service, and just-in-time demand in order to determine what aspects of the industry the ferry service can target.

“We’re starting to see opportunities to become active in the industry,” Thomas told Today’s Trucking. “One guy called us up and asked if we could run a boat that’s all freight late at night. Hypothetically, yes, we could do that. Another mentioned just carrying trailers over, like an intermodal service. There are some very creative opportunities being looked at.”

The new year-round ferry service — recently named The Breeze — will set sail in May with three round trips a day. The service operator, Canadian-American Transportation Systems (CATS), says its vessel has a top speed of nearly 55 mph and can accommodate 750 people, 220 passenger cars, and about 10 commercial vehicles. Fares for commercial vehicles range from $40 to $105 US.

The crossing from downtown Toronto to a terminal at the mouth of the Genesee River in Rochester will take about two hours and 15 minutes, which compared to overland routes would save about an hour and a half in transit time, not counting delays at the border, the company says.

Thomas says CATS is also talking with customs agencies in Canada and the United States about how to speed up the clearance process. “For this year it’s going to be the traditional procedure like when you cross a bridge and you clear customs upon arrival (in the United States),” he says. “But we’re actively pursuing the possibility of adding an on-site customs brokerage service to (pre-clear) passengers before they leave Toronto.”

Jim Latimer, director of sales for Canada Cartage, agrees more than a few carriers would become very interested in the ferry if it could raise commercial capacity and maintain such services. While most of his company’s New York-bound freight leaves Canada through Quebec, “If all those things they’re looking at doing come true, I think it will definitely change the way companies do business,” Latimer says. “It’s not so much the extra hour driving as it is the time you’ll save crossing the border. If they can find a way to expedite the border crossing time then there will be a big advantage to leaving out of Toronto.”

While getting the Toronto-Rochester service up and running is the company’s top priority, Thomas says CATS is also pursuing a ferry between Sarnia and Cleveland on Lake Erie. However, one problem affecting the plan is that Erie freezes up, restricting the service to nine or 10 months a year, Thomas says.