While the market news from the passenger vessel industry has been anything but bright, a few shipyards are building new facilities to better serve their customer base. One of the best examples is Island Boats, Jeanerette, La., Island Boats formerly was located on a very dry patch of land overlooking Highway 90 near New Iberia, La. . After construction, their vessels had to be trucked to the Port of Iberia, several miles away. "The cost to us and inconvenience to others in the Port was becoming a major problem as our boats got bigger," said Miles Thomas, president of the firm. The firm solved this problem in May by moving to a six acre plot of land that backs up to Bayou Teche, approximately eight miles from the Baldwin Canal that has direct access to the Intercoastal waterway.
