MV Race Point

Vessel

The 162-foot vessel is certified to carry 246 passengers and 34 vehicles or freight.

In Service

Race Point is in service year-round, except during scheduled annual maintenance.

History

In response to increased need for ferry services on Fishers Island, the Ferry District signed a contract in 1984 with Eastern Marine Inc. of Panama City, Florida to build the auto ferry MV Race Point. She was delivered to the ferry dock in New London on June 21, 1985. Her cost was $1.25 million.

Race Point recently had it’s first engine replacement since it went into service. With support from a $800,000 grant from the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust, the Ferry District was able to replace all five engines, including propellers and propeller shafts. The new engines are all Cummins diesel Tier 3 compliant and are designed to reduce soot, smog and other types of dangerous pollution that comes from engine exhaust. Two Cummins 575HP X15’s replace Caterpillar 530HP engines. Additionally, there are two Cummins ONAN 40kw generators and one Cummins QSL9 bow thruster engine.

The end result will be a cleaner burning more fuel efficient Race Point – expected to be back in service at the end of April. A lot of discussion and analysis went into making the Race Point faster however, simply put, significantly increasing the engine horsepower resulted in a minimal increase in speed at a much greater cost.