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Bay Transportation News

27 Jan 2023

US Announces More Grant Funding for Ferry Upgrades

(Photo: Eric Kilby - CC BY-SA 2.0)

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced $384.4 million in federal funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for expanding and improving the nation’s ferry service in communities across the country, as well as accelerate the transition to zero emission transportation.In total, FTA is awarding 23 grants across 11 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Grants will fund projects including replacement of old vessels, expand fleets, and build new terminals and docks.

16 Aug 2019

Ferry Runs Aground in Boston Harbor

Coast Guard Station Point Allerton crew members respond during the grounding of the ferry Lightening in Boston Harbor, Friday, Aug. 16, 2019. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Station Point Allerton)

Four people were injured Friday morning when a Boston-bound ferry ran aground off Long Island in Boston Harbor, the U.S. Coast Guard said. At approximately 7:45 a.m., J.P. Vega, operations manager for Boston Harbor Cruises, reported to Coast Guard watchstanders that the ferry Lightening ran aground with 84 people aboard.The Coast Guard said it launched rescue crews from Station Boston and Point Allerton to assist in the response alongside state and local partner agencies.The four…

01 Mar 2019

CBMM Restores tug Huntington’s Pilot House

Photo courtesy of CBMM

The pilot house of the tug Huntington recently returned to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum after extensive metal refurbishing and repair.All restoration work was performed by E. H. Harvey Metal Working Co. of Easton, Md., and included sandblasting the exterior, removing lead paint, and preparing the exterior for final painting. The pilot house is currently stored in one of CBMM’s off-campus locations, in anticipation of restoring Huntington’s wood trim and interior during the warmer weather.With generous support from Chesapeake Shipbuilding…

27 Feb 2018

MBTA Welcomes New Addition to Boston Ferry Fleet

As part of a continued effort to invest in Boston-area water transportation, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) recently welcomed a new high-speed catamaran ferry, Champion to its fleet with support from STV, a leading engineering, architectural, planning, and construction management firm. Champion is the first new passenger ferry vessel procured by the MBTA. It was also the first new water-borne vessel procurement supported by STV, which has a long-standing history of providing procurement support services for rail and bus vehicles to the MBTA and other transportation agencies throughout North America. The new ferry will provide service between Hingham, Hull, Logan Airport and downtown Boston.

29 Dec 2017

Best Workboats of 2017

Marine News showcases the best of North America’s 2017 workboat deliveries. There is something for everyone. Notwithstanding the lingering offshore energy downturn, there were plenty of bright spots for North American shipyards in 2017. If a hull was delivered in 2017, we took a look at it, with several areas as a focus for inclusion into this edition. For starters, it is always exciting when a domestic yard delivers a vessel – or multiple vessels, for that matter – to foreign buyers. We can compete in a foreign arena; on price, quality and on-time delivery. This year was no different. No less important is the environmental footprint of a vessel, and there was plenty to report on from that angle in the past 12 months. The domestic waterfront is indeed getting greener and cleaner.

27 Oct 2017

Massachusetts Takes Delivery of New Fast Ferry

New ferry Champion for MBTA (Photo: Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding)

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has taken delivery of Champion, the first of two new 150-passenger, high-speed catamarans built by Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation. The new vessels – funded by a grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) – will operate year-round commuter service in Boston Harbor, in addition to two high-speed ferries built by the Somerset, Mass., shipyard in 1997. Designed by Incat Crowther, the all-aluminum ferry is 90 feet LOA, 28.8 feet abeam, and draws approximately four feet loaded.

04 Jan 2017

EPA Awards Nearly $2 Mln for Clean Repowers

Three New England projects have been awarded nearly two million dollars under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) competitive national grant competition to reduce diesel emissions. The grants, totaling $1,975,000, were made under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA). The funding will assist the Connecticut Maritime Foundation, the Massachusetts Port Authority and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in marine vessel repowering and vehicle replacement projects. Diesel engines contribute significantly to air pollution, especially in urban areas. The fine particles in diesel exhaust pose serious health risks, including aggravated asthma and other respiratory symptoms. Children are especially vulnerable to these effects.

03 Mar 2015

Winter in US Northeast Takes a Toll on Ferries

Photo: The Boston Harbor Association

With its black hull rumbling against a field of broken ice, the Warren Jr. slowly eased away from a dock in the Boston suburb of Hingham on Tuesday, aiming to clear a path for some of the four ferries that carry commuters from here into the city each day. But in a sign of how long Massachusetts has been gripped by freezing temperatures, no other vessels followed, as the tide narrowed the channel behind the oceangoing supply boat pressed into service as an icebreaker. It was the…

09 Jan 2015

Ferry Fixation: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

King County Water Taxi

It all adds up to the global effort to strengthen bottom lines, safety margins and the collective environmental footprint. The future for ferries seems to be on fire; both in good ways and bad. The good is always a good place to start. And, that’s because it is ferry fabrication time. The most notable ferry routes in America are jumping into the construction queue for new vessels and soon the next generation of ferry vessels will be hitting the piers (not literally of course).

03 May 2010

SeaKits for Boston’s Best Cruises

Photo courtesy Chesapeake ProCon

SeaKits, the developer and provider of the Marine Maintenance System (MMS), has signed an agreement with Boston’s Best Cruises to provide the company’s two workboat fleets with their turnkey MMS Fleet Solutions. SeaKits and Boston’s Best Cruises met at the Passenger Vessel Association meeting in February and began discussions of implementing Fleet Solutions into their Boston and Ft. Lauderdale based fleets. The Boston fleet’s maintenance program will begin operations with MMS by the end of April.

27 Dec 2007

Barge Hits Rail Bridge

The Coast Guard, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company responded after a tug and barge struck a railroad bridge in Beverly, MA, on December 21, 2007. The 35-foot tug Edna, owned by Jay Cashman Inc., with barge Weeks #70, was transporting dredge material outbound on the Danvers River to Beverly Harbor when the barge struck the Beverly Railroad Bridge at approximately 4:45 a.m. Both the barge and bridge sustained minimal damage. No injuries were reported. The MBTA and MBCR are working to repair damages to the bridge. Two crewmembers from Coast Guard Station Gloucester worked with the Beverly harbor master to assess damage to the barge, which was minimal.

07 Sep 1999

Marcon Involved in Three Vessel Sales

Crowley Maritime Services, Seattle, has sold its twin screw tug Geronimo (ex-Zeno) to Bay Towing Corp. of Norfolk, Va. The tug, built in 1967, measures 128 x 32.8 ft., and is powered by two Fairbanks Morse 10-38D8-1/8 main engines. This is the third tug Bay Transportation has purchased through Marcon International, Coupeville, Wash. The Klukwan Native Corp., of Juneau, Alaska, has sold twin screw, 3,000 hp tug Chilkat Hunter (ex-Hunter D, ex-Chaunta, ex-Wendy Foss, ex-Pacific Mariner) to Gimrock Construction, Inc., of Hialeah, Fla. The vessel was built in 1964, and rebuilt in 1993 with a new aluminum pilothouse. The boat has been renamed Gimrock Atlas by the new owners. This is the third tug Gimrock has purchased through Marcon.