Nova Scotia company says Nova Star Cruises owes it money

A Nova Scotia company that did some video production work for Nova Star Cruises is speaking out it says after the lines of communication with the company went quiet over some unpaid invoices.

Steve Dunn is the owner of Deep Blue Media, a video production company. He says the company owes him about $6,300 for two unpaid invoices.

"It's unfortunate, but it's not surprising," said Dunn, noting the company appears to be struggling to pay its bills.

In mid-November, the company said it was having a hard time financiallybecause it argued the province owed it $2 million. However, the province said it had already fulfilled its financial obligations to the company.

Dunnsays he began working with the company at the end of July to create a video that showed what the experience was like for ferry passengers.

"It basically showed a lot of nice visuals of the cruise ferry itself," he said.

Dunn says he completed the first video, sent an invoice for it and began working on a second video that would show what passengers were doing once they reached Nova Scotia.

When it was announced Nova Star Cruises would not be operating the ferry service between Yarmouth and Portland, Mainein 2016, work on the second video ceased.

At that point, Dunn says he was told by Nova Star Cruisesto do up an invoice for the work completed to date on the second project. Besides sending the invoice, Dunnfollowed up with several phone calls and emails to different people with the company.

"I thought I was doing my due diligence to make sure I was having my invoices front and centre on their desk to make sure I got paid," said Dunn.

He was later told by a company official that the company was waiting on the final $2 million from the province and once it had it, it would be able to pay its outstanding bills.

Nova Star Cruises received $39.5 million in subsidies from the provincial government over the two years it operatedthe ferry service.The ship had about 110,000 passengers, short of its two-year goal of 180,000.

A U.S. federal court ordered the seizure of the Nova Star ferry on Oct. 30 following complaintsfrom a U.S. company that saidit was owed close to $200,000.

In mid-November, the company said it owedabout $200,000 to vendors and suppliers in Nova Scotia.

Pondering his next move

Just over a week ago, the lines of communication between Dunn and Nova Star Cruises went quiet, he says. He reached out to different company officials by phone, email and text, but hasn't received a response.

Dunn even reached out to the company that owns the ferry itself,Singapore-based ST Marine, as it paid many of the creditor claims that were made against Nova Star Cruises. In an email, the company told him to speak with Nova Star Cruises as it did not engage his services.

Dunn isn't sure what his next move is, but says he'slooking into filing a formal claim against Nova Star Cruises.

The company did not respond to requests for comment for this story.