BOSTON (AP) – A group of investors has abandoned plans to launch a Boston-to-Nova Scotia ferry service this summer, although they still hope to begin the trips next May.

Several months of negotiations to bring the Scotia Prince ferry to Boston for trips to Shelburne, Nova Scotia, ended this week with the ship’s owners, Scotia Prince Cruises, rejecting a proposal from the Boston investors group Shores Atlantic LLC.

“Even though we’re disappointed, no one’s interest has waned,” Eugene Hartigan, a Shores Atlantic partner, told The Boston Globe.

“It was very ambitious to try to start it this year, anyway. We’ll find a ship and be able to put a crew together and be ready.”

He said Shores Atlantic was not given an explanation for why its offer was rejected.

The Scotia Prince can carry 1,000 passengers and 185 cars, with restaurants and a casino. For years, it sailed between Portland, Maine, and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, but the carrier canceled its 2005 season following a dispute with Portland city officials over the condition of its docks.

Hartigan said he and his partners will spend the next 10 months looking for another ship to lease for a May 2006 launch, and drafting a security plan for the Boston Autoport in the city’s Charlestown section in hopes of using it as the ferry’s home base.

He said Shores Atlantic hoped to offer roundtrip fares for the 14-hour Boston-Shelburne voyage of $100 to $200 per person.

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