A new ferryboat affiliated with Elon University sets sail on the coastal North Carolina waters this summer. All of North Carolina’s ferryboats are affiliated with colleges or universities in North Carolina and display the school colors and logos.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation awarded a $14.9 million contract to Orange Shipbuilding Co. in Orange, Texas to build two ferryboats for the North Carolina Ferry Division. The ferryboats are a part of the state’s effort to replace boats built in the 1960s.
The ferryboat, which is 220 feet long and 50 feet wide, is classified as a sound class vessel, the largest in the state’s fleet, and capable of carrying 300 passengers and 50 vehicles.
The ferryboat is the state’s sixth sound class ferryboat and cruises the waters over the Pamlico Sound from Cedar Island to Ocracoke and Ocracoke to Swan Quarter. These ferryboats are designed to withstand the abuse of constantly traversing the shallow, turbulent waters of the Pamlico Sound.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division currently extends over seven routes and has more than 21 ferryboats.
Each year, North Carolina ferries transport more than 1.1 million vehicles and more than 2.5 million passengers across the Currituck and Pamlico sounds, and the Cape, Fear, Neuse and Pamlico rivers.
The former boat affiliated with Elon, the Motor Vessel Bonner, is no longer in service and has not been for several years. The boat was last used to construct artificial oyster beds with Marine Fisheries and is currently moored in a restricted area at Cherry Branch and has no public access.
– by Becca Tynes ’13