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South Ferry News

01 Apr 2020

US Shipyards Forge Ahead Through COVID-19

The 56-foot icebreaking tugboat being built by Blount Boats for N.Y. Power Authority (NYPA). (Photo: Blount Boats)

As the novel coronavirus and its impacts continue to spread across America, U.S. shipbuilders, by and large, continue to build. While most yards have been deemed essential to marine transportation and/or national security and have been able to maintain operations, the situation at and around every shipyard is different, and there are several builders across the country that have had to temporarily suspend activity. In either scenario, it’s far from business as usual for America’s…

27 Jul 2020

Blount Boats: Ferries, Offshore Wind both Dominate Present, Future

Marcia Blount, President of Blount Boats

Marine News recently visited the Blount Boats facility in Warren, Rhode Island. While the year 2019 might be the ‘year of the woman’ in the eyes of the International Maritime Organization, the two women at the head of Blount Boats – Marcia & Julie Blount– have been a driving force in the U.S. boatbuilding market for decades. As Blount’s celebrates its 70th anniversary, read about the storied yard’s promising future.Founded in 1949, Blount Boats is a full-service shipyard with a customer base comprised of a variety of commercial and government entities including the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S.

10 Sep 2018

Blount Boats Wins Ferry Build Contract

Profile drawing for sister ships Sunrise and Southside delivered in 2002 and 2009 respectively (Image: Blount Boats)

Rhode Island boatbuilder Blount Boats said it has signed a contract with South Ferry Company to construct a new steel passenger/vehicle ferry for Shelter Island, N.Y.The 101’x 40’ double-ended ferry, to be named Southern Cross, will be built to carry a deck load of 260,000 pounds. The vessel will be a sister ship to two other Blount-built ferries designed by DeJong & LeBet for South Ferry, the Sunrise delivered in 2002 and the Southside delivered in 2009.Main propulsion will be provided by two Caterpillar series C-18 Tier III & IMO II Certified each rated at 470 HP at 1,800 RPM.

18 Aug 2016

MN100: Blount Boats, Inc.

Marcia Blount (Photo: Blount Boats)

Over time, the Blount shipyard has built more than 365 vessels. Today, Blount Boats’ clients include Fire Island Ferries, Casco Bay Island Transit District, Puerto Rico and Municipal Islands Maritime Authority, Spirit Cruises, Circle Line Statue of Liberty (Hornblower), South Ferry on Shelter Island, Long Island, and the Kwajalein Army Base on the Marshall Islands. Blount has been building high quality, innovative shallow draft designs for 66 years. Blount’s designs have created…

26 Aug 2015

MN 100: Blount Boats, Inc.

Over time, the Blount shipyard has built 363 vessels, including such iconic designs as the 130-foot, 600-passenger Miss Liberty. Built in 1952, the vessel is believed to have carried more total passengers than any other vessel in the world. Hull number 93, built in 1955, the “Blount 65’ made its debut and was an immediate success with ferry, commuter and excursion operators. Just under 65’ long, it was an important “break point” in Coast Guard regulations. During the late 1950s, Blount designed the Botruc for the offshore oil and gas industry.

16 Mar 2015

USCG Responds to Grounded Ferry near Ocracoke Inlet, NC

The Coast Guard responded to a ferry that ran aground Saturday approximately one mile south of Ocracoke, North Carolina. The captain of the Silver Lake, a 220-foot passenger and vehicle ferry, contacted Coast Guard Sector North Carolina watchstanders via mobile phone at approximately 5 p.m., reporting they drifted into shallow water and became stuck. Coast Guard Sector North Carolina watchstanders dispatched a crew aboard a 47-foot Motor Life Boat from Coast Guard Station Hatteras Inlet to assist. The Station Hatteras Inlet crew removed 14 passengers from the ferry and took them to the Ocracoke South Ferry Terminal. The crew of the Silver Lake plans to attempt to re-float the ferry Sunday with the assistance of the crew aboard the tugboat Royal Engineer.

11 Sep 2013

Proper Engine Maintenance Leads to Significant Cost Savings

Engine Maintenance trumps a tough economy. Bypass oil filtration technology is one way to get there. For the past several years, ferry service and tugboat operators have had one eye on fuel costs and the other on the economy. But worry as they might, there’s not much, if anything, that operators can do to effect change to the economy or to reduce the price of fuel. What they can do, however, is effect change to reduce their company’s operating costs and that’s where proper engine maintenance can make a significant difference.

13 Jul 2009

PVA President Testifies Before Congress

In testimony before Congress, PVA President Bill Clark told legislators that the Coast Guard’s centralized system for issuing merchant mariner credentials must be improved. Captain Clark, who is also co-owner and operator of South Ferry, Inc., of Shelter Island, N.Y. testified before the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation on the subject of the Coast Guard’s National Maritime Center and Mariner Credentials. “PVA is aware of too many instances in which a mariner has been prevented from working because of credentialing processing delays,” said Captain Clark. •    Coast Guard credentials are essential for a mariner to be able to obtain a new job or to continue in an existing one. Delays threaten a mariner’s livelihood.

12 Nov 2001

Blount Barker Signs Contract For South Ferry Vessel

Blount Barker Shipbuilding signed a contract with South Ferry of Shelter Island, N.Y. to build a 101-ft. double-ended ferryboat. The vessel designed by South Ferry and Dejong & Lebet, Inc. is being built to service the half-mile crossing of partially protected inland waters between Shelter Island and the South Fork of Long Island. The 101' x 39’ x 10’-5” ferryboat designed with one open deck and one side island for crew and passengers will be built to USCG Sub Chapter ‘T’ Rules and Regulations for 149 passengers. The ferryboat is scheduled for delivery in June 2002. The all-welded steel ferry to operate on protected inland waters will be powered by two 400hp Detroit Diesel Series, Six Cylinder DDEC Main Propulsion Engines with Twin Disc MG-516 gears (4.5:1).

14 Aug 2002

Blount Barker Delivers South Ferry Vessel

The 101-ft. double-ended ferryboat, Sunrise, was delivered to South Ferry, Shelter Island, Long Island on July 30th. The vessel began servicing the half-mile crossing of partially protected inland waters between Shelter Island and the South Fork of Long Island on Friday, August 2nd. The 101’ x 39’ x 10’-5” ferryboat designed by Dejong & Lebet, Inc. was built to USCG Sub Chapter “T” Rules and Regulations for 150 passengers. The vessel is a traditional car ferry with one open auto deck and enclosed aluminum side cabin with pilothouse. The Sunrise can carry a maximum of 50 cars or 4 semi-tractor trailers with a maximum load of 240,000 pounds.

15 Jan 2003

Passenger Vessels:A New England Shipyard Comes of Age

When MR/EN traveled up to the New England coast this past fall as part of a New England shipyard swing, we were expecting to meet the great one himself — Luther H. Blount — who could be informally known as the "father" of New England shipbuilding. Blount began his career so many years ago with the construction of a 77-ft. steel catamaran, was the first of many greater and more technologically innovative vessels that would later earn the designation as Blount crafted. Over the years, Blount oversaw the daily operations of his yard, managing to get his hands dirty on the overall production process. Carefully designing every vessel to a tee with a pencil and sketch pad…

15 Jan 2003

Passenger Vessels:To the North, South —And A Little Island Sheltered

To those not familiar with the New York metropolitan area — the eastern end of Long Island is demographically multi-faceted. Traveling east on the Long Island Expressway, (the Island' main thoroughfare), the 118-mile long island, splits into two "forks," the North and the South. With the hamlets of Greenport and Orient Point situated on the easternmost points of the island on the north, the South Fork boasts the tony Hampton villages and the historical village of Montauk Point — literally the end of the earth before reaching the whitecaps of the Atlantic Ocean. While the two forks may differ in reputation and history — they have one similarity — a small island "sheltered" in between.

09 Jun 2003

Feature: New York Ferry Market Roars to Life

New York was hardly unique for developing ferry services, but this city of islands was one of the most prolific. At their height, more than 60 routes linked Manhattan, New Jersey, and the four other boroughs. Before there were skyscrapers, before there were subways, the city was famous for its ferrryboats, woven together by them - who could imagine getting around without them? City planners could. After the Civil War, New York entered a bridge-building boom that lasted a century. From the Brooklyn Bridge to the Verrazano, New York erected wonders famous to every tourist. Dozens more, less fabled, are known better to mariners. Open 24/7…

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