Entertainment Cruises Inc. is pumping $1.2 million into its operations in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
The company is spending about $750,000 to add a second speedboat and another $500,000 to make one of its dinner cruise boats more fuel efficient, General Manager Dan Leaman says.
The company is replacing two old engines in its Spirit of Baltimore boat with Tier 3 engines that are more eco-friendly. The boat should use 79,000 fewer gallons of diesel fuel over its lifetime, Leaman says.
Entertainment Cruises will start running Seadog VI, its second speedboat, April 14. The company expects to hire about 20 employees to sell tickets and staff the boat.
The boat, which can accommodate 106 passengers, takes visitors on a 50-minute sightseeing tour from the Inner Harbor to Key Bridge and back.
The company's first
Seadog boat ferried 21,000 passengers last year. Entertainment Cruises hopes to double that number this year with the second boat, Leaman says.
Based in Chicago, Entertainment Cruises oversees 24 ships in seven other cities: Boston, Chicago, Norfolk, Va. Philadelphia, New York, Washington, D.C., and Weehawken, N.J.
Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Dan Leaman,