In February 2005 Rochester Ferry Company LLC, a subsidiary of the City of Rochester, New York purchased the high speed catamaran ferry Spirit of Ontario I in a bankruptcy auction after previous owner Canadian American Transportation Systems (CATS) shut down the inaugural service in summer 2004 after it operated for 11 weeks.

[1] The company was registered in the State of New York (Monroe County) on June 29 of that year.

The fall 2005 season saw very light traffic using the ferry service and coupled with rising costs from record fuel prices, BFGL announced on December 8 that the vessel would stop service for the season effective December 12.

On January 10, 2006, newly elected mayor of Rochester Robert Duffy announced that the city government would not be approving the ferry board's request for additional funding for the city's subsidiary Rochester Ferry Company LLC so that the service could resume in the summer.

On April 2, 2007 the City of Rochester announced that it had sold the ferry to a German company for $30 million (USD).