06/27/09 - Viking Fleet’s expansive plan to knit Montauk, Block Island, New Bedford and Martha’s Vineyard together with fast-ferry service crashed into a federal court decision last week. The court said, once again, that the East Hampton ordinance banning fast ferries and vehicle ferries from Montauk docks was valid.

Viking had argued that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution bans states from “placing burdens on the flow of commerce across its borders” and that’s what the East Hampton refusal to accept fast ferries does.

But District Court Judge Sandra Feuerstein noted that Viking had “conducted no market studies” and thus was unable to demonstrate that the Ferry Law “had a disparate impact on interstate commerce.”

At press time, neither Viking nor its parent firm, Francarl Reality Corp., had made a statement about pursuing an appeal.

On to New Bedford

When the new Viking Superstar, a catamaran, was put in service on the Montauk-Block Island run in 2006, Capt. Paul Forsburg, Viking chief executive, also announced plans to stretch the run on weekends to New Bedford, from where a fast ferry runs to Oak Orchard on Martha’s Vineyard.

At the time, he told the Block Island Times he envisioned travelers arriving by train in New London, sailing to Block Island for a stay and then on to the Vineyard. But the New Bedford run from Block Island soon disappeared from the Viking schedule.

A major consideration, it appears, is that the Viking Superstar isn’t enough boat to make the longer run economical, and it can’t carry vehicles. So Viking went to court to challenge East Hampton for the right to run a bigger, faster boat.

The town, on the easternmost tip of the south fork of Long Island, had passed the ordinance in 1997 because its roads were already clogged and it feared an influx of new traffic as travelers hurried to catch larger and more frequent ferryboats in Montauk.

Cross Sound Ferry company, the New London firm that also operates a boat to Block Island, and the towns of Southhold and Shelter Island challenged the law in 2004. The two towns wanted to end the flow of casino-bound traffic to the Orient Point ferry, and Cross Sound wanted to capture the traffic with a fast ferry from the South Fork.

Judge Feuerstein ruled for East Hampton in December 2005. The 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals sent the case back to her in 2007 for more testimony, but Cross Sound abandoned the case.

Separately, Feuerstein also ruled for East Hampton in 2006 in the Viking case. On appeal, the Court of Appeals sent the case back to Judge Feuerstein. She has now ruled that Viking has failed to prove that the Ferry Law interferes with interstate commerce while the town did prove “the benefits envisioned and realized by the Ferry Law.”

Meanwhile, Viking agreed with East Hampton to make the alleged fast ferry, the Viking Superstar, comply with the ordinance, which establishes a limit of 2,000 horsepower and 20 knots. They stipulated that the Superstar power is actually 1,888 horses, and that it would not run faster than 19.8 knots. That cleared the way for Viking to increase service to Block Island from one slow boat a day to four fast boats a day in high season.