BAR HARBOR – A new harbor taxi service could draw thousands of additional visitors to downtown merchants during the peak tourism season, a businessman said Wednesday.

Marc Brent’s Acadia Whale Watch Co. will operate the small ferries beginning in June.

Brent said he learned that many of the cruise ships built in recent years do not carry their own tenders – small boats that are used to ferry passengers to shore.

Instead, the companies save money by contracting with local firms to provide the transportation at each port.

Traditionally, Bar Harbor has offered no such ferry service.

Bar Harbor’s harbor master, Charlie Phippen, said, “My impression is that Bar Harbor wasn’t as attractive a port for some of the ships due to a lack of tender service. With a tender service, there would be the potential for more ships.”

The company recently announced its purchase of the Acadia Clipper, a 120-foot vessel that will ferry cruise passengers from ship to shore for a fee.

Brent says he calculates the service could bring more than 40,000 additional visitors to downtown.

Once they’ve landed, Chamber of Commerce studies show, the passengers will spend an average $125 each on food, souvenirs and excursion trips – such as Brent’s whale watch cruises.

“I don’t think there’s a business in Bar Harbor that won’t benefit from more cruise ship passengers,” Brent said.

Inspiration struck several years ago when Brent saw the Queen Elizabeth II moored off Bar Harbor in thick fog, its passengers trapped inside their cabins for the day.

“I started thinking: There’s a market here” he said.

Cruise lines have already scheduled more than 50 visits to Bar Harbor in 2001, according to the local Chamber of Commerce. In this burgeoning cruise market, Brent saw an irresistible business opportunity.

Brent would not divulge the amount of the fee which cruise lines will pay for his tenders, but said that the service will turn a tidy profit if the cruise market continues to grow in Bar Harbor.

However, the 18-year-old Acadia Clipper cost Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co. more than $550,000. And Brent has approved spending an additional $50,000 to refurbish its interior.

As a result, he does not anticipate profits from the taxi operation until at least 2005, when the loan has been paid off, Brent said. “I’m a risk-taker,” he said.

Norwegian Cruise Lines assured Brent’s success for 2001 with its exclusive contract to ferry passengers each Wednesday from June 6 to Sept. 12. The line’s Norwegian Sea will make 15 visits to Bar Harbor carrying as many as 1,800 passengers and 625 crew members.

Its Norwegian Sun will bring 2,000 passengers and 800 crew members thrice during the late fall.

The company’s interest in Bar Harbor is directly related to the availability of ferry service, Brent said. Norwegian Cruise Lines had never visited Bar Harbor in the past because its ships do not carry tenders.

The Delta Queen, too, required a taxi service before making its first Bar Harbor visit. The 226-passenger boat, designed to look like an old-fashioned river steamer, has scheduled four trips in 2001.

The Acadia Clipper can carry 272 passengers – as compared with the 80 or so passengers who can ride a typical tender.

And when necessary, the company’s 180-passenger Acadian Sightseer will be taken off-line as a whale watch cruiser and used as a second ferry, Brent said.

Brent hopes to attract more of the large cruise lines in coming years by offering convenience to even those vessels with small boats available for transportation.

“It’s quite an operation to get the tenders over the side,” Phippen said. “If I was a captain I’d opt to hire the vessels to come put and pick up my passengers.”