Steamship Authority engineers are working to iron out some unexpected wrinkles in the performance of the new freight ferry, M/V Barnstable.

Less than six months after voting to end paid advertising aboard its ferries, the Steamship Authority board of governors rescinded the decision Monday.

The Steamship Authority this week sold off the M/V Gay Head, just days before the M/V Barnstable is set to make its first trip to Nantucket.

The M/V Barnstable, a former oil vessel that has been converted into a freight ferry, left the shipyard in Alabama Thursday for what is expected to be an eight-day voyage to the boat line’s maintenance facility in Fairhaven.

The Steamship Authority has dropped a potential $3.50 to $5 rate increase for excursion fares from the Vineyard and cut a proposed passenger rate hike from $1 to 50 cents, according to a revised draft of the preliminary 2025 operating budget.

The M/V Barnstable, a repurposed offshore oil vessel, could join the boat line’s fleet later this fall after more than a year’s work at the Alabama Shipyard in Mobile. 

The Steamship Authority’s second largest vehicle ferry will be sidelined until at least Friday due to damage on the vessel's portside propeller blades.

Steamship Authority staff were investigating a coolant issue on the M/V Nantucket, temporarily taking the ferry out of service.

The ferry line board of governors Thursday approved a $17 million retrofit of a former offshore oil vessel. The ferry, which will be called the M/V Monomoy, will eventually join two other newly converted freight vessels that are set to join the Steamship fleet later this year. 

Steamship workers discovered Friday that the Eagle ferry’s bow thruster was leaking gear lubricant, forcing the boat to go to the shipyard for repairs.