One Windsor politician thinks a ferry service to Detroit can stay afloat.

Windsor-West MP Brian Masse said a ferry could be transporting people across the Detroit River within a year.

He's pushing ahead to bring back the ferry service that last existed in 1929.

Masse met with Detroit Port Authority officials and a union representative for Canadian border officials Wednesday.

The Port of Detroit already has a multi-million dollar facility on Atwater Street near Detroit's Renaissance Centre where the ferry could land and act as a customs office.

Masse and port authority officials said the ferry could be used by tourists who want to access riverfronts on both sides of the border for cycling.

It will also give commuters another option to get to work.

The U.S. federal government is making $2.4 million available for the ferry, but a lot of details have to be worked out and several bureaucratic hurdles have to be cleared before this could happen.

However, Masse is optimistic it will be operational.

Both Masse and the Detroit Port Authority are going to be lobbying higher levels of government to push the idea forward.