The ferry sat until April 19th when it was announced that it would go for a test drive. The press all showed up to cover the story.
Above is a video of the ferry leaving Rochester for the test drive. (Notice how quiet it is.) To the right is a picture of the ferry at the end of the Rochester pier.
Photo by Dick Halsey
The ferry was sold at auction to EuroFerries Ltd. on May 3, 2006 for $29.8 million. This organization was a new company that was going to run between England and France. At first it was announced that the ferry might be leaving within the week. The only problem was that Euroferries didn't have any financial backing. So again everyone was waiting for the ferry to leave.
The logos were painted out on the ferry in hopes that it would be leaving soon.
Photo by Dick Halsey
On July 27th, Alan Hevesi (NY State Comptroller) releases a ferry audit which criticizes both the City of Rochester and CATS. You can view the whole report by clicking the link but it is a PDF file and you have to use your "back button" to return to this page. The report notes that the City selected CATS without trying to receive other bids. Also the City was critized for allowing Maplestar to rent the terminal building for only $1 per year even after the ferry service concluded.
The ferry sat at the port all of 2006 and City officials keep hoping for money to come from Euroferries. As the end of the end the year approached and the St. Lawrence Seaway was going to close, they realized that the ferry needed to be near the Alantic Ocean. Mayor Duffy said that he would give at least 24 hours notice so that people could say good-bye to the ferry. As it turned out Mayor Duffy only gave about 4 hours notice that the ferry is leaving. The ferry gave a final whistle salute and left Rochester on Dec. 21, 2006 at 6:45 P.M. for Halifax, Nova Scotia where repairs were made, including finally doing a complete repair of the gash made when it hit the dock in New York City before it even arrived in Rochester.
