We don’t take lightly any increase in ticket price. We agonize over even the smallest increase. It is therefore with a great deal of wringing of hands that we announce that, due to the unprecedented increase in the cost of diesel fuel, we must impose a fuel surcharge on each ticket.

At the beginning of September of last year, fuel cost us $2.19 per gallon. This month’s prices are currently running at $3.54 per gallon. That’s an increase of over $1,500 per day, vs last year, to our operation!

Sadly, we are unable to sustain that increase on our own. Our margins do not allow for it.

We wish to assure you that we do not profit from this surcharge and pledge to decrease it on whole dollar increments should our fuel costs drop accordingly.

In fact, as of September 8th, we reduced the round trip fuel surcharge $2. Reductions in the cost of a barrel of oil, and our supplier’s costs to us, make this price drop possible.

If there is any good news in this, it is that Bay State Cruises continues to operate one of the least expensive fast ferry trips in the entire country on a per mile basis and, therefore, provides you, our guests, with a strong value. We are also now only charging the same amount that we charged back nine years ago when we began high speed ferry service to Provincetown; back when fuel was 40 cents per gallon, no less!

The other good news in all this is that the environment is benefiting. The EPA passed a law late last year requiring that ferries burn diesel fuel with an ultra low sulfur content. Although the additional refining processes required for the cleaner fuel has added significantly to the cost of the fuel, the ferries have now become an even more environmentally friendly way of traveling to the Cape.

Thanks very much for your patronage. We appreciate your confidence and your business.

Sincerely,

Bay State Cruises