Farewell to fancy Cape May ferries?

CAPE MAY - After spending $54 million to make ferryboats more like cruise ships, the operator of the Cape May-Lewes Ferry is making a sea change.

Luxury, it seems, wasn't a selling point for people who pay up to $29 to have a car and its driver hauled 17 miles across the Delaware Bay.

The ferry operator, the Delaware River and Bay Authority, lost $6.8 million on operations last year, and its turnaround plan involves selling the biggest luxury ferry in the five-vessel fleet, the football-field-size MV Cape May.

The authority wouldn't reveal the asking price. It's likely higher than the $14.5 million the vessel cost to build in 1985. A decade ago, the authority spent an additional $20 million to upgrade just about everything on the boat, other than the hull.

"I asked my wife to marry me on the deck of the Cape May," said Bryan Jones, 28, of Georgetown, Del., a regular passenger on the ferry. "I'm sad to see it up for sale, but if they have to tighten their belts to keep the operation going, then I guess I understand."

More than belt-tightening, the sale could mark the abandonment of a plan to market the ferry as more than a way to transport people, cars and trucks across the Delaware Bay, as it had been since service began in 1964.

"What we are seeing now has more to do with the economics of the operation than anything else," said Jim Salmon, a spokesman for the Delaware River and Bay Authority. "The ferry is still very closely tied to the tourism industry in both Cape May County and Sussex County in Delaware, but we do need some changes to reposition ourselves for the future."

About 350,000 vehicles and 1.1 million people annually make the 75-minute crossing. Those numbers have declined since the late 1990s, when about 200,000 more people took the ferry each year, Salmon said.

He blamed higher gasoline prices, better highways, and fewer tourists headed to beaches.

The fleet makes about 30 crossings a day from May until September and eight a day the rest of the year.

Fifteen years ago, a marketing firm hired by the authority suggested that passengers would be willing to view the ferry as more than transportation. The authority invested millions of dollars sprucing up its ferries and mounted an aggressive campaign to increase ridership.

At first, the plan seemed to work.

As each refurbished ferry returned to service, special incentives to get people aboard included reduced fares, coupons, shopping trips with transportation to Delaware factory outlets, casino junkets, and on-board music festivals.

By the mid-1990s, ridership was jumping as much as 20 percent a year. The authority added passenger services and spent $37 million to rebuild terminals in Cape May and in Lewes to include gift shops, restaurants, and visitor centers highlighting the Delaware Bay's maritime history and ecological importance.

Ridership peaked in 1998, with 415,000 vehicles and 1.32 million people.

But since 2000, the ferry service has been plagued by financial losses, never seeming to recoup the investment made to upgrade the fleet.

Brenda Machese of Northfield, Atlantic County, who rides the ferry twice a month on business, said she really didn't care about luxury ferry amenities.

"I just want to get from one side to the other quickly and efficiently," she said. "I don't care about lounges or restaurants or anything else."

A year ago, the authority paid $349,000 to Hornblower Marine Services, a marine master planner, to chart the future of the fleet in terms of size, speed and number of vessels.

The study is expected to be completed by December. But an initial finding targeted the most lavish of the ferries, the 320-foot MV Cape May.

Hornblower called the vessel "surplus" equipment after finding it was in service only 15 days last year.

The MV Cape May, the fleet's newest ferry, was built by Norfolk Shipbuilding & Drydock Corp. The vessel has about 20,000 square feet of white-painted exterior to maintain, compared with about 12,000 on the other ferries, and guzzles about 25 more gallons of fuel per hour than the other ferries, said Heath Gehrke, director of ferry operations.

The MV Cape May also requires 17 crew members per sailing, compared with 12 on the other ferries, Gehrke said.

In 1998, two decks, a small restaurant, a food court and a cocktail lounge were added to the ferry. The refitting also afforded passengers comfy seats, cushy carpeting, a children's playroom, a game room, and television monitors throughout the vessel.

All the improvements were geared at making the crossing a more comfortable experience, spokesman Salmon said.

He said Hornblower's suggestions for the future might include newer, more fuel-efficient vessels; an adjustment in the number of crossings per day; and changes in crew numbers.