The brand new Steamship Authority ferry Woods Hole began her maiden voyage, a 2,200 mile trip to Fairhaven, on Tuesday evening at 9:30 p.m.

The new ferry Woods Hole was christened last week at the Louisiana shipyard where she was built, and will soon travel 2,200 miles to her new home port. She is scheduled to begin service on June 17.

The Louisiana shipyard building the new hybrid ferry Woods Hole has notified the Steamship Authority that delivery of the new vessel, expected to start making trips next spring, could be more than two months late.

The new Steamship Authority ferry will ply the route between Woods Hole and Oak Bluffs beginning next spring, the town selectmen learned this week.

Conrad Shipyard will build the ferry in Morgan City, La. The steel ferry, which has already been named Woods Hole, is being called a super freight boat, with a capacity for 384 people and 55 vehicles.

When a new ferry is delivered to the Steamship Authority around spring of 2016, it will bear the name Woods Hole. At their meeting in Vineyard Haven Tuesday, boatline governors agreed unanimously on the name choice.

It might not be obvious, but right from the start in 1950, the Steamship Authority has followed fairly clear lines of thought when it comes to naming ferries and freight boats.