Ferry Service To Ocean Beach, Fire Island To Be Suspended Tuesday

BAY SHORE, NY — Fire Island Ferries has been connecting Bay Shore to Ocean Beach Village for 70 years, but beginning Tuesday, there will be no more ferries heading to the Fire Island village. The company failed to reach an agreement with the village, after operating on an expired lease while the two parties negotiated terms for the last year.

Fire Island Ferries had extended service until Monday, March 7, hoping weekend talks would lead to an agreement. Ocean Beach representatives told Newsday that "the ferry company wanted to pay approximately 30 percent less in rent, while the village wanted the company to pay 5.5 percent more."

In a statement posted Monday, Fire Island Ferries announced service would cease:

Hopes were high this past Friday afternoon upon reaching a tentative agreement with Ocean Beach’s Mayor. Unfortunately, on Saturday morning the village trustees collectively rejected the terms proposed by Fire Island Ferries. In their counteroffer, the rent, discounts and credits that the village continues to demand of the ferry company are economically untenable.

Fire Island Ferries offered to continue to provide services to Ocean Beach throughout the negotiation process, and their offer was rejected. For this reason, Fire Island Ferries will be suspending all ferry, freight and water taxi services to and from Ocean Beach beginning March 8th. Service to Ocean Beach will remain suspended until such a time that a more balanced agreement can be reached.

We realize this will create hardships for numerous communities and businesses of Fire Island, and for this we apologize. It is our goal to come to a resolution with the village as soon as possible. However, the current fiscal demands of the village board show a complete disregard for both the needs of the ferry company, and those of the seven other communities that Fire Island Ferries serves.

During this period of suspended services, all passenger ferries originally scheduled for Ocean Beach will arrive and depart from Seaview, and all freight originally bound for Ocean Beach will be redirected to Ocean Bay Park.

We will notify you all as progress is made. Please continue to monitor fireislandferries.com and our social media accounts for all updates.