Marcia Blount News

An official launch ceremony was held to celebrate the commissioning of a new Jones Act compliant crew transfer vessel (CTV) built for American Offshore Services (A-O-S)—the company's first.Constructed by Blount Boats in Warren, R.I., the 100-foot-long aluminum catamaran is owned and operated by A-O-S, a joint venture formed in 2020 by leading European CTV operator Northern Offshore Services (N-O-S) and U.S.-based investment firm OIC.The vessel will support Ørsted and Eversource’s portfolio of offshore wind farms in the Northeast…

There are vessels on order today—including crew transfer vessels (CTV) being built in the U.S. (American Offshore Services at Blount Boats and for WINDEA CTV at St. Johns Ship Building and Gulf Craft, for example)—that are described as “hybrid-ready”. Of course, a vessel is either hybrid or it isn’t. So what does hybrid-ready mean?When asked about the hybrid-ready CTVs that Blount Boats is building, the shipyard’s president Marcia Blount told Marine News that the vessels’ Volvo Penta IPS propulsion system “is readily upgradeable to hybrid at any time in the future.

Offshore wind developers Ørsted and Eversource announced Thursday that they have chosen two regional vessel operators that will partner with Rhode Island shipyards to build crew transfer vessels (CTV) to service their wind farm projects in the U.S. Northeast. The joint venture partners revealed plans to charter five new Jones-Act-compliant CTVs, including three from New York-based WindServe Marine and two from Massachusetts-based American Offshore Services (AOS).The purpose-built aluminum catamarans are designed to handle the unique offshore conditions at the wind farms…

The U.S. has big plans for its offshore wind industry, and shipbuilders like Blount Boats and others are ramping up to capitalize on the unprecedented opportunity.Earlier this year, the Biden Administration unveiled its goal to have 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power installed and in development in the U.S. by 2030. The announcement, which included plans to open new areas to development, accelerate permits and boost public financing for projects, injected a healthy dose of optimism into an American offshore wind industry that has taken its time getting off the ground.To date…

Volvo Penta has secured a contract to provide quad IPS propulsion systems for the four new offshore wind farm crew transfer vessels (CTVs) that will be built at Blount Boats for American Offshore Services (AOS). The new 30-meter (99-ft.) twin-hull CTVs will be powered by four IPS900 propulsion drives, two in each hull. The fully integrated system will also include Volvo Penta’s GPS-based Dynamic Positioning System and integrated joystick controls, allowing for convenient and easy maneuverability even in conditions of strong currents and high waves.

American Offshore Services (A-O-S) announced Tuesday it has ordered four hybrid-ready crew transfer vessels (CTV) from Blount Boats to service the United States' emerging offshore wind industry.In the years ahead, it's expected that potentially dozens of CTVs will be built as part of a new fleet of Jones Act compliant vessels required to support the construction and long-term service of a pipeline of new offshore wind farms slated to sprout up along the U.S. East Coast. The Biden…

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…

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.

Blount Boats, Inc. becomes the eighth shipyard company to join Green Marine.“We’re already committed to delivering vessels that exceed our clients’ expectations and now wish to go beyond compliance in our work in terms of the environment as well,” says Marcia Blount, the company’s president. “The Green Marine framework is tailor made for the marine industry and scalable to our size of operations. It will provide guidance towards greater sustainability for our shipbuilding activities.”Green Marine further expands its shipyard and U.S. East Coast membership by welcoming Blount Boats, Inc.

U.S. offshore wind farm support company Atlantic Wind Transfers (AWT) has signed a multi-million-dollar, market-first order for two state-of the-art Chartwell 24 Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs), developed by Chartwell Marine.The vessels, to be deployed in support of new wind farms off the East Coast, will be built by Blount Boats, with delivery scheduled for 2020."Meeting the demands of U.S. offshore wind developers and asset owners - many of whom have a background in the European sector - requires domestic supply chain firms to capitalise on existing technology, lessons learnt and best practice, while responding to the unique requirements of operating in American waters…

Maritime Reporter & Engineering News recently visited the Blount Boats facility in Warren, Rhode Island. The year 2019 might be the ‘year of the woman’ in the eyes of the IMO, but the two women at the head of Blount Boats – Julie & Marcia Blount (pictured) – have been a driving force in the U.S. boatbuilding market for decades, building on the business that their father Luther Blount built starting in 1949. As 2019 is Blount Boat’s 70th anniversary, a full story on the yard, it’s history and evolution will appear in the October 2019 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News…

Rhode Island shipyard Blount Boats, Inc. said it has signed a sublicense agreement with Marine Applied Physics Corp. (MAPC) of Baltimore, Md., for the building of crew transfer vessels (CTV) designed by U.K. builder South Boats.South Boats has designed and built approximately 30 percent of the wind farm crew transfer vessels operating on European windfarms, and Blount Boats has held the U.S. license for the firm’s designs since 2011.In 2016, Blount delivered a South Boats 21-meter transfer vessel, Atlantic Pioneer, to Rhode Island Fast Ferry. The vessel is the first U.S.

U.S. shipbuilder Blount Boats together with naval architecture firm Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) has been awarded the contract to design and construct a new passenger-only ferry for Governors Island, New York by The Trust For Governors Island. The vessel will provide passenger ferry service between Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan and Soissons Landing on Governors Island, New York. “Blount Boats is honored to have been chosen by the Trust to build another iconic vessel for New York Harbor,” said Marcia Blount, President of 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…

Atlantic Wind Transfers, Blount Boats and Deepwater Wind welcome key U.S. Atlantic Wind Transfers, the commercial wind support services arm of Rhode Island Fast Ferry, joined boat builder Blount Boats and offshore wind developer Deepwater Wind on August 12 for an official Ribbon Cutting ceremony and to tour the first offshore wind farm crew transfer vessel in the U.S currently under construction. The event at the Blount Boats yard in Warren, R.I., brought together local supply chain businesses to celebrate the economic benefits of the Block Island Wind Farm project to U.S. firms.

Blount Boats has made significant upgrades to its physical plant thanks mostly to a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation¹s Maritime Administration. These grants benefited a number of shipyards around the country and were made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Thanks to these grants, Blount Boats has installed a significant amount of new capital equipment including a Hydraulic Shear, a Proform Brake Press, a Hydraulic Plate Roller and a Big Swing Lathe among other equipment.

The 442 passenger, fast catamaran Atlanticat was delivered to it’s hailing port of Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Monday, July 21, 2003. The vessel, built for B.B.O., LLC will be operating as Acadian Whale Adventures out of Bar Harbor, Maine and used for off shore whale watching during the summer months and commuter service in Key West, Florida during the winter. The 7,200 hp aluminum catamaran is powered by (4) Cummins KTA-50 engines; ZF4600D gears with (2) Cummins ONAN 95 kW generators supplying the ships service power.

The 442-passenger, fast catamaran Atlanticat was delivered to it's hailing port of Portsmouth, NH, recently. The vessel, built for B.B.O., LLC will be operating as Acadian Whale Adventures out of Bar Harbor, Maine and used for off shore whale watching during the summer months and commuter service in Key West, Fla., during the winter. The 7,200 hp aluminum catamaran is powered by (4) Cummins KTA-50 engines; ZF4600D gears with (2) Cummins ONAN 95 Kw generators supplying the ships service power. The vessel is equipped with (4) Hamilton Jets HM651 Series and SeaState Ride Control enabling the vessel to sail heavy seas. Full load service maximum speed is 35 knots. The vessel was designed by Crowther Multihulls of Australia and is the first large, high-speed catamaran built at the shipyard.