US Ferry Grants Award $665 Million Across 23 Projects in 14 States
Alaska takes the largest single award at $153.4 million to replace a 50-year-old passenger vessel.
The US Department of Transportation has awarded $665 million to modernise ferry infrastructure, selecting 23 projects across 14 states and the United States Virgin Islands.
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced the package, which spans new passenger ferries at one end and dock and landing rehabilitation at the other. The awards run through the Federal Transit Administration's ferry grant programmes, which fund terminal infrastructure, new routes and new vessels.
The largest single award is $153,406,928 to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, to replace a 50-year-old passenger vessel connecting smaller communities in Southeast Alaska. In a region where the ferry system substitutes for a road network, a half-century-old hull is a single point of failure for the communities on its route.
Florida's Jacksonville Transportation Authority receives $7,846,269 to upgrade dock infrastructure for the St. Johns River Ferry, which carries pedestrians and cars. Maine's Department of Transportation gets $8,000,000 to modernise ageing mainland and island infrastructure and expand docking capacity in rural communities. Louisiana's Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District receives $2,027,910 to rehabilitate the ferry landings at Belle Chasse and Scarsdale on the Mississippi.
Demand outran the money by a wide margin. The FTA received 49 eligible proposals from 16 states and the US Virgin Islands, together requesting $1.1 billion — roughly two applications and $1.65 of requests for every dollar awarded.
Matthew Cahill, the FTA's Acting Deputy Administrator, said millions of Americans rely on ferry systems to stay connected, from metropolitan areas to rural communities, and described the investment as expanding routes and delivering modern ferries for faster and more reliable service.
The spread of the awards is the notable part. Vessel replacement, dock capacity and landing rehabilitation are three different problems with three different lifespans, and this round funds all of them at once rather than concentrating on newbuildings. For yards, the vessel awards are the ones that convert into orders, in a segment where battery-electric ferry series are already absorbing European yard capacity; for the operators, the dock and landing money is what keeps existing tonnage working.
