The following is the text of a news release from Horizon Shipbuilding:
(BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala.) — Horizon Shipbuilding has been awarded five additional ferries by HNY Ferry Fleet LLC. The award brings the total ferries Horizon is building to 13 and completes the initial 19-boat Citywide Ferry contract. Two of the five vessels will be delivered as part of the 2017 package, with the remaining three scheduled for delivery in 2018.
Horizon has 10 hulls under production and the vessels are currently on schedule, with the first boat slated to be delivered in the spring of this year. “We are very pleased that Hornblower selected Horizon to continue the assembly line our team has been able to put into operation,” said Travis R. Short, president of Horizon Shipbuilding. “One of the premises of our company is to always maintain a positive rapport with our customers and I am thankful that Hornblower has once again placed its trust in us.”
One of the primary reasons that the Citywide Ferry project remains on schedule is Horizon’s Gordhead management software, which allows the shipyard and its clients to remain closely connected throughout the vessel building process. Lance Lemcool, Horizon’s business development manager, said that “transparency is the key and that’s what Gordhead provides. Through transparency, communication, accountability and information sharing issues are nearly nonexistent.”
Designed by Incat Crowther, the option ferries are of the River class and have an overall length of 85 feet 4 inches, with a 26-foot, 3-inch beam. The all-aluminum vessels will achieve a speed of 25 knots.
