Conrad Industries, the Louisiana shipyard building the new hybrid ferry Woods Hole, has notified the Steamship Authority that delivery of the new vessel could be more than two months late. The news came at the boat line’s monthly meeting, held Tuesday in Falmouth. However, general manager Wayne Lamson said the SSA will work with the shipbuilder in an effort to prevent any delay in delivery.

The hybrid ferry was scheduled to be delivered on April 29, in time to begin service between Woods Hole and Oak Bluffs during the busy summer season. Conrad Industries asked for a 70-day delay, which would mean the vessel would not be delivered until early July.

The company has formally invoked a “force majeure” clause that would allow it to avoid contractual penalties because it says the cause of the delays was beyond their control.

“We got a revised schedule from Conrad,” said Carl Walker, director of maintenance and engineering. “That had insufficient detail. We had insufficient information from the yard to justify the claim, or evaluate that claim.”

Under the contract, the shipyard would have to credit the Steamship Authority $14,000 for every day past the contractual deadline for delivering the boat, according to Mr. Walker.

Mr. Walker said it is not in the interest of the shipyard or the SSA to miss the deadlines, so he is hopeful the new vessel will be considerably less than 70 days late.

“I spent the last week down in the yard, and I don’t see them off the schedule that much,” Mr. Walker said. “They are putting the manpower on here, and they are progressing well. I’m optimistic that we can negotiate, or discuss this in a shorter time period.”

Mr. Walker said in the next month he expects to gather enough information and negotiate with the shipyard to settle on a revised schedule and a firm date for delivery.

In a statement following the meeting, general manager Wayne Lamson stressed that both the shipbuilders and the boat line would work to eliminate any delays.

“It would be premature to speculate as to whether there is going to be a delay in the delivery of the new vessel,” Mr. Lamson wrote. “However, in the event the M/V Woods Hole is not ready to go into line service at the start of next year’s summer schedule on May 18, we will run a schedule similar to this past year using the M/V Island Home, M/V Martha’s Vineyard, M/V Governor and M/V Sankaty on the Vineyard route.”

The 235-foot Woods Hole is designed to carry 10 full-sized tractor trailer trucks, or 55 cars, as well as 385 passengers.

In other business the board unanimously approved expanded service by two private carriers.

Hy-Line Cruises won approval to begin running six trips daily in the summer season from Hyannis to Oak Bluffs. Five of those trips will be with a new high speed ferry with a capacity of 300 to 350 passengers. The new agreement allows the Hyannis-based ferry service to run three trips from Oak Bluffs to Nantucket daily in the summer season.

The Steamship Authority, chartered to provide year-round service to the Islands, is allowed to license competing ferry service.

Seastreak won approval to run as many as three trips daily from New Bedford directly to Nantucket. The company dropped earlier plans to include a stop in Oak Bluffs on that route.

Also Tuesday, Mr. Lamson said the authority has reached an agreement to renew the lease for the long term parking lot next to the terminal in Woods Hole. But under the terms of the new lease with the town of Falmouth, the town will take 40 of the existing 300 parking spaces for its own use, beginning Jan. 1. To make up for the loss in revenue, board members voted to increase the cost of an annual parking permit for the Woods Hole lot from $900 to $1,100.

“We’ll need to reduce the number of Woods Hole permits,” Mr. Lamson said, and those who use their vehicles infrequently may not be able to renew their permits.

“If we have to reduce the number, other than through attrition, some of those may be moved to Palmer Avenue,” Mr. Lamson said.

Mr. Lamson announced dates for the opening of advance registrations for next year’s summer schedule.

Headstart applicants can apply for vehicle reservations by mail and internet only from Jan. 5 to Jan. 10.

The general public can begin making vehicle reservations by mail and internet only on Jan. 12.

Phone reservations for the summer season open Jan. 19.

Advance reservations for the fall schedule open June 20.