Metal Shark snaps up two more ferry contracts

JANUARY 24, 2017 — The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority has contracted Jeanerette, LA, shipbuilder Metal Shark to design and build two new Mississippi River ferries, reports nola.com.

The website quotes Transdev, which operates the ferry service as saying that a federal transportation grant with a 20-percent match from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development will pay for the ferries and that total project would cost about $10 million. The first boat could be delivered in about one year, with the second following six months later.

The two boats to be replaced, the St. John and the Louis B. Porterie, were built in 1977 and 1937, respectively.

Read the nola.com story HERE