Yet another victim of Katrina's aftermath...

[Ixolib]

Posted on Mon, Jul. 17, 2006
Sun Herald
Biloxi, MS

Ship Island Excursions to sell one of three ferries

By MIKE KELLER
mkeller@sunherald.com

Ship Island Excursions, the Gulfport harbor-based passenger ferry service, announced Sunday it would sell one of its three ships because of a dramatic falloff in business.

"We are doing a third of the business we did last season," said Louis Skrmetta, operations manager of the family business. "We have too many boats with too much capacity."

The company has put its 100-foot, 300-passenger capacity Captain Peteup for sale with ship broker Pinnacle Marine Corp. for $1 million.

Selling the ferry will leave Ship Island Excursions with the larger 374-passenger capacity Gulf Islander and the 200-passenger capacity Pan American Clipper.

Skrmetta said he ferried 300 passengers to Gulf Islands National Seashore's Ship Island on Saturday. The same day last year, his boats handled 1,000 passengers.

His forecast for the next couple of years was grim, guessing it would take three or four years before business picks back up to pre-Katrina levels.

"Most of our passengers are relief folks right now," he said. "And let's face it, we won't see them next year. We've lost the Midwest tourist families, which were huge for us."

He believes business will remain flat until hotel rooms start opening again along the Coast.

Steve Richer, executive director of the Harrison County Tourism Commission, has said the county has seen available hotel rooms decrease from 17,000 to 6,500.

"We can't afford to keep these boats if they are not working for two or three years until business comes back," Skrmetta said. "We're just reading the writing on the wall."

[Dionne]

I find it surprising that they are actually operating and doing 1/3 of the original business.

Worker burn out is happening big time on the coast. It's hot. Materials are scarce. Living on the job site is not any fun. On the jobs we did in Waveland......we had workers that didn't even last a full week.

One of the owners in Waveland decided he had enough for awhile. He had returned to Waveland within a week of landfall. His home is now partially habitable. Everything around him looks rough. Still piles of debris on the roads edge. The house next door still has a tree fallen through. Last wednesday he announced he needed some time away and promptly packed some clothes and drove away.

[Ixolib]

I find it surprising that they are actually operating and doing 1/3 of the original business.

Worker burn out is happening big time on the coast. It's hot. Materials are scarce. Living on the job site is not any fun. On the jobs we did in Waveland......we had workers that didn't even last a full week.

One of the owners in Waveland decided he had enough for awhile. He had returned to Waveland within a week of landfall. His home is now partially habitable. Everything around him looks rough. Still piles of debris on the roads edge. The house next door still has a tree fallen through. Last wednesday he announced he needed some time away and promptly packed some clothes and drove away.

I know the feeling. But in my case, I reached that point in late May!! No doubt... many lives forever changed.

[Frank P]

I find it surprising that they are actually operating and doing 1/3 of the original business.

Worker burn out is happening big time on the coast. It's hot. Materials are scarce. Living on the job site is not any fun. On the jobs we did in Waveland......we had workers that didn't even last a full week.

One of the owners in Waveland decided he had enough for awhile. He had returned to Waveland within a week of landfall. His home is now partially habitable. Everything around him looks rough. Still piles of debris on the roads edge. The house next door still has a tree fallen through. Last wednesday he announced he needed some time away and promptly packed some clothes and drove away.

I know the feeling. But in my case, I reached that point in late May!! No doubt... many lives forever changed.

I hear you George.... and I know the feeling.... they have finally cleaned up my neighborhood... with just some loose debris scattered around but for the most part all the major debris has been removed.. that helps a little not having to live in a bomb out area....

Regarding the worker burnout as Dionne mentioned I think it will get worse before it gets better... especially once all those Grant checks are released and 16000 people have more money to spend on repairs and new construction..... definitely more workers will be needed... and SOON

I think the McDonalds is going to rebuild near the Mall... at least that is what the sign says, not sure when but I'd never thought I'd be happy to see a MickeyDs built, but this time I will ... if they do, it would be the first NEW restaurant back on the coast... and although I'm not a big McDonalds eater... I will go there just to show support for coming back...

I also think it will be 3-5 years before we even come close to being "normal"... strange thing is... living on the beach has never been better if you like less traffic, isolated beachs and no neighbors.... almost like living on an island at late night and early mornings... I expect that to change big time over the years...

[Ixolib]

I expect that to change big time over the years...

Yeah, I agree... Too bad. I mean, actually (way before Katrina), it's a shame what started happening to the sleepy little town of Biloxi back in '92. While the casinos surely brought economic development (to me as well!!), they equally brought extreme congestion and unreasonable growth to Hwy 90 (condos & traffic).

Please, Frank, enjoy your tranquility while you can because you are absolutely right - things are going to change BIG TIME over the coming years. It is surely not the Biloxi I (we) grew up in, and unfortunately, never will be again... And, Katrina simply kicked that process into high gear.

I applaud folks like yourself and Lindaloo who are insistent on staying put and staying "home", but to me, my "home" can never be what it once was. I still remember the good old days when I worked on the charter boats out of the Broadwater and on my days off fished the bulkhead behind the restaurant there. But now, the Broadwater - and so many other historic places of Biloxi like The Point - will become the property of some huge conglomerate far removed from the coast. I just can't bear to watch it unfold before my very eyes. Ultimately, Biloxi will be but a shell of its former self. And that is truly a shame.........