Donald Cormier came to Portland again last week to work with city officials and assure others that The Cat ferry service between Portland and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, will be efficient, environmentally responsible and above all, safe.

The Cat, a high-speed catamaran, expects to start the run on Friday, May 26.

Cormier, Vice President of Operations and Safety Management for Bay Ferries Ltd, spoke on April 11 to Portland’s Waterfront Alliance, an organization of stakeholders in the Portland waterfront including pier owners, fishermen, the U.S. Coast Guard, Portland Harbor Commissioners, the Portland harbormaster, Casco Baykeeper Joe Payne, city officials and others.

Cormier noted that the parent company of The Cat, Northumberland Ferries Ltd (NFL), began operating ferries between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick in 1941 and works hard to maintain its reputation of safety, efficiency and reliability.

Since 1997 NFL has run The Cat ferry between Bar Harbor and Yarmouth. This year the ferry will make the round trip between Portland and Yarmouth Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and will travel between Bar Harbor and Yarmouth Monday through Thursday.

Cormier said that concerns about The Cat expressed by fishermen and boaters in Bar Harbor had been addressed once the Cat Ferry went into operation.

Bar Harbor’s harbormaster, Charlie Phippen, confirmed that the town and Bay Ferries Ltd. “have very good open communications. It’s been very smooth the six years I’ve been here.”

Phippen said that at first the ferry’s wake, which increased as the catamaran slowed to medium speed to enter Bar Harbor, was a problem. Bay Ferries developed a procedure, said Phippen, to minimize the impact of its wake.

When coming into Bar Harbor, The Cat now times its reduction in speed so its increased wake hits Bald Porcupine, the bold granite outer island, and the island’s east-west breakwater, dampening the wake considerably.

He pointed out that the 320-foot planing Cat has a wake smaller than a comparably sized displacement vessel, which plows through water.

At the Cat’s top speed of 50 knots, little wake is thrown by the planing vessel. When The Cat slows the wake increases as its hulls sink into the water. She is propelled by water jets and has no propellers.

Phippen said that Bar Harbor lobsterman Jon Carter came to Casco Bay earlier in the year to talk about fishermen’s experience with The Cat in Frenchman’s Bay.

Fixed fishing gear, such as lobster traps, said Phippen, are much less likely to be damaged by The Cat because the jet-propelled planing hulls run right over gear, whereas a displacement vessel with a propeller has a tendency to chew up gear. And while the water intake of The Cat is massive, gear doesn’t tend to get sucked in.

Phippen said that the problems that do arrive “don’t originate with The Cat but with other vessels that do something not in the Navigational Rules of the Road, such as kayaks getting in the way when The Cat is coming in to tie up.”

The Cat follows the recommended route for larger vessels coming into Frenchman’s Bay. It follows protocols such as CPA (Closest Point of Approach) which requires action if another vessel of any size comes within a zone of avoidance — within so many degrees on either side of the bow. The Cat would attempt to make radio contact with the vessel, sound signals and finally alter course. This is the only scenario where The Cat would alter course, added Phippen.

The danger signal is sounded “maybe a few times each summer,” he said.

When there’s reduced visibility, said Phippen, “we get a lot of calls from pleasure boaters being proactive, asking for the schedule and route of The Cat.”

Portland Harbormaster Jeff Liick has been working closely with Phippen and with NFL. “I believe it’s going to be a very safely operated operation,” he said.

He’ll be working with The Cat when it arrives in Portland May 22 and will use the days before the May 26 start to practice the route, look for the best location to slow the vessel down, and familiarize the bay fleet with The Cat.

Even before The Cat arrives, “I am working with the captains to make sure the wake is not too large.”

Liick will “offering safety escorts, at least at the beginning, until we see how the public responds. We’re not worried about The Cat,” he said. He provided the same service to visiting cruise ships last year.

“For example,” he said, “last year some sailboats were tacking in front of the cruise ship; they didn’t realize how fast the cruise ship was moving. We just want to make sure everyone is being safe.”

Portland’s sea pilots will board The Cat where they meet other large vessels entering Portland Harbor. Liick will also meet The Cat here and precede her into the harbor.

The Cat will follow the same route as the SCOTIA PRINCE and take about the same time, 30 minutes, to reach the dock. She will not be using tugs. She will be docking in 2006 and 2007 at the International Marine Terminal while OceanGate, the city’s new terminal, is under construction.

The Cat will have two rotating captains, and the navigators are also qualified captains. The vessel’s high speed radar can pick up boats as small as kayaks, Cormier said.

“Fishermen’s concerns are from lack of education” Liick said, “many of their questions are things Bar Harbor has dealt with. Once people see it in operation, they’ll see it’s not a super huge monster.”

“There are high speed cats everywhere,” he said.

In fact, this vessel’s hull is number 59, the 59th hull that the Australian company INCAT has built. Based in Hobart, Tasmania, INCAT has sold its catamarans all over the world.

Three of them are chartered to the U.S. military, which is planning on purchasing eight of them from INCAT and another Australian cat builder.

“INCAT is always working to make the next hull better,” said Cormier, pointing out that welding aluminum is tricky.

At the Waterfront Alliance meeting, Charlie Poole, owner of Union Wharf, pointed out that “we get fog in Portland, too,” referring to a 1998 accident in Yarmouth, N.S. That collision with a fishing boat killed a fisherman. Canadian investigations exonerated The Cat for that accident.

Fog remains a concern of Long Island lobsterman Steve Train. “I’m not overly concerned about gear loss or safety, and I know we’ll get used to it,” he said. “But I have a fast lobster boat, HATTIE ROSE, that can cruise at 35 knots, but I don’t do that in fog. When we have weather, we back down a bit. These guys [The Cat crew] are on a schedule.”

CAT FACTS

Length: 320 feet/98 meters

Capacity: 775 passengers; 250 cars; 14 tour buses/motor homes

Engines: four 9,500 horsepower marine diesels

Maximum Speed: 50 knots, using 1,329 gal. fuel/hr

Time between Yarmouth and Portland: 5½ hours, arriving Portland 1:30 p.m. & departing 2:30 p.m.