Blount Boats awarded ferry newbuilding contract

Blount Boats and South Ferry Company of Shelter Island, New York, have signed a US$3.45 million contract for a new passenger ferry to be delivered by the end of 2019.

The new vessel, which will be named Southern Cross, will join two other Blount Boats-built ferries in the South Ferry fleet, namely, Southside and Sunrise.

To make way for the new vessel, the current Southern Cross in the South Ferry fleet has been renamed Lt. Joe Theinert in honour of First Lieutenant Joseph Theinert, a Shelter Island native and US Army soldier who was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2010.