The Steamship Authority is going forward with the retrofit of a new freight vessel, the third in line from a series of vessels purchased from a Louisiana company in 2022. The price tag for the latest conversion costs is loftier than its predecessors by a few million dollars — which Steamship officials attributed to some additional work required as well as labor shortages and supply chain disruptions seen across the maritime industry.
The work is needed for the new vessel to fit SSA slips and to allow passengers and vehicles onto the freight deck.
The M/V Monomoy will ultimately join the M/V Aquinnah and M/V Barnstable as the newest Steamship freight vessels. The three boats were originally used in the offshore oil industry.
While conversions for the Barnstable and Aquinnah cost over $14 million with change orders, the Steamship board approved a contract with the maritime company Alabama Shipyard to convert the Monomoy for $17 million.
Director of marine operations Mark Amudsen said that a significant price difference with the Monomoy was due to extending an exhaust system in order to provide more room for vehicle access. Additionally, general manager Bob Davis said that over the last year-and-a-half, the industry has seen an 18 percent increase in costs.
Steamship officials also noted that the Monomoy could become one of the most efficient vessels in the fleet. With plans to convert the vessel to a Tier-4 engine — the top of the line for fuel efficiency for diesel engines — Steamship officials say they would effectively be cutting down on particulate matter and reduce fuel usage by as much as 10 percent with the conversion.
But while board members were supportive, Vineyard representative Jim Malkin questioned why the Steamship wasn’t considering converting the Monomoy to an electric-diesel hybrid vessel. Some in the public have pushed the Steamship to fall in line with the state’s efforts to go fossil-fuel free within the next few decades.
“I applaud the fact that we are going from 0 to a Tier 4,” Malkin said. “That’s a great move and reflects reality and the concern for the environment. But why are we making a more efficient diesel operation, instead of eliminating oil from the fleet?”
The response from the administration was essentially cost. COO Mark Higgins said that converting the vessel’s engine to 50 percent electric would cost upwards of $21.5 million, not including charging infrastructure.
Higgins noted that there’s an opportunity to convert the engines when they required “mid-life” maintenance, and when the electric technology was further along.
In addition to converting the engine to a Tier-4, he said they are also exploring alternative forms of fuel that are more environmentally friendly.
“I see us being more aggressive as we go,” Higgins said. “We’re on the right track and this is the first step,” he said of upgrading the engine.
