WARREN – Blount Boats has signed a contract with the Puerto Rico and Municipal Islands Maritime Transportation Authority (PRTMA) to construct a 75' by 22' aluminum, 150 passenger-only ferry, to be delivered by January 2009.

The boat will be the 24th made by the Blount shipyard for the PRTMA during the past 45 years, and the 324th boat made by the shipyard overall. Blount Boats has been a Warren family-operated shipyard since 1949, and it currently employs more than 50 workers.

The project is being paid for with federal funds from the Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Highway Administration. It will service the route of Catario to Old San Juan to Hato Rey.