Canadian American Transportation Systems, or "CATS", was a company based in
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
which initiated a passenger/vehicle ferry service on
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...
, connecting Rochester with
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
.
CATS was established in the early 2000s by several local business leaders in upstate New York, after the City of Rochester solicited bids from companies interested in establishing such a ferry service. After the City of Rochester built a marine passenger terminal, CATS ordered a high-speed catamaran vessel from
Austal Ships in
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
, based on a modified version of the Auto-Express 86 model. The modifications were mostly in terms of the vessel's beam (or width), as it needed to be able to transit through the locks of the
St. Lawrence Seaway. The vessel's registered name was ''
Spirit of Ontario I
The HSC ''Virgen de Coromoto'' is an fast catamaran ferry operated by Consolidada de Ferrys C.A. in Venezuela. It was built in Australia in 2004 for a fast ferry service on Lake Ontario between Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Rochester, New York, U ...
'' and it arrived at Rochester on April 27, 2004.
CATS heavily promoted the service and ran a contest with citizens in Ontario and New York for a marketing name for its operation, with the prize being a lifetime boarding pass. The winning name for the service was "The Breeze" and many people assumed this was the name of the vessel, however its registered name remained ''Spirit of Ontario I''. The ferry is more than 280 feet long and can carry more than 750 passengers and 220 cars. The ferry features bars, a restaurant, movie theater, children's play area, business class, wireless Internet service, and an arcade.
bloomberg businessweek: "Company Overview of Canadian American Transportation Systems LLC"
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Scott Associates Architects Inc was selected as the designer for the Toronto ferry terminal in the Inner Harbour area.
The vessel began daily service between both ports with several 2.5 hour crossings per day, beginning on June 17, 2004. By the mid-summer, most crossings were at or near capacity and the service appeared to be successful.
Since the vessel was operating between two international ports, CATS decided to register ''Spirit of Ontario I'' under the flag of Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
, a flag of convenience
Flag of convenience (FOC) is a business practice whereby a ship's owners register a merchant ship in a ship register of a country other than that of the ship's owners, and the ship flies the civil ensign of that country, called the flag state ...
nation, to avoid Canadian or U.S. taxes. It was still required to meet all United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...
and Canadian Coast Guard
The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; french: links=no, Garde côtière canadienne, GCC) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in ...
safety requirements, however Canadian and U.S. registered vessels had the benefit of not requiring to pay for pilotage
Piloting or pilotage is the process of navigating on water or in the air using fixed points of reference on the sea or on land, usually with reference to a nautical chart or aeronautical chart to obtain a fix of the position of the vessel or air ...
services, a requirement for all foreign registered vessels.
End of the line
This decision by CATS (which cost upwards of $6000/crossing), along with a series of unfortunate events related to charges for customs and immigration services, marine passenger terminal facilities in Toronto, and a poorly executed business plan, not to mention various delays in seeing the start of service, saw CATS shut down the entire operation on September 7, 2004, after only 11 weeks of service.
Following the CATS bankruptcy, the vessel remained docked in Rochester. On February 28, 2005 a bankruptcy auction sold ''Spirit of Ontario I'' for $32 million (USD) to Rochester Ferry Company LLC, a subsidiary of the City of Rochester. Rochester Ferry Company LLC announced in April 2005 that it had selected Bay Ferries Great Lakes Limited
Bay Ferries Great Lakes was a marketing name used by Bay Ferries Management Limited, a subsidiary of Northumberland Ferries Limited (NFL).
History
In February 2005 Rochester Ferry Company LLC, a subsidiary of the City of Rochester, New York ...
to operate the service using ''Spirit of Ontario I'', with the service marketed under the name "The Cat". The service resumed June 30, 2005.
References
{{reflist
External links
The Fast Ferry
- Coverage by the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Companies based in Rochester, New York
Ferry companies of New York (state)
Ferry companies of Ontario
Transport in Toronto
Transportation in Rochester, New York
Companies that have filed for bankruptcy in Canada
Defunct shipping companies of the United States
Defunct shipping companies of Canada
Defunct companies based in New York (state)