MS delivers 30th passenger vessel

JEANERETTE, La. - Alabama-Louisiana based shipbuilder Metal Shark (MS) has delivered its 30th passenger vessel since June 2017. The company’s newest ferry delivery, a 97-foot, 350-passenger, USCG Subchapter “K,” welded-aluminum, high-speed, low-wake catamaran, was handed off to its (unnamed) operator last week. The new passenger vessel is the latest delivery from Metal Shark’s Franklin, La., shipyard. Five 150-passenger catamaran ferries are currently in various stages of construction at the yard. In the past three years, passenger vessels built by Metal Shark have been delivered to Washington D.C., Florida, New Orleans, and multiple operators in New York. “Without fanfare, Metal Shark passenger vessels have been entering revenue service with America’s leading operators at the rate of approximately one per month,” said Metal Shark’s VP of Commercial Sales, Carl Wegener. “With 24 catamarans between 85-and-105 feet, and six monohull vessels larger than 45 feet, have been delivered in the past three years, (while) Metal Shark has become America’s leading passenger vessel builder. To achieve the high-volume production of passenger vessels, MS has adapted and incorporated the “now-proven serialized production methods” they initially developed to build patrol boat for the U.S. military, explained CEO Chris Allard. (Source: Metal Shark 11/25/19) https://www.metalsharkboats.com/metal-shark-reaches-milestone-with-latest-passenger-vessel-delivery/