Steamship Authority Sells Another Freight Boat, The M/V Katama, For Just $50,000

The Steamship Authority on Friday announced the sale of another one of its aging freight boats: the M/V Katama.

The vessel was sold for $50,000 to Offshore Tug & Transportation LLC, an entity owned by the Robert B. Our Co. The Harwich, MA- based construction firm has completed several large projects on Nantucket and is currently working on the multi-year, multi-million-dollar sewer main replacement project. Earlier this month, the Robert B. Our Co. purchased another Steamship Authority freight boat, the M/V Gay Head, for $200,000. The company has declined to comment on how it will be utilizing the freight boats moving forward.

The Steamship Authority originally had a deal in place to sell the M/V Katama to the Miami-based shipowner Maurice Denis for $166,000, but the sale fell through after Denis was unable to secure the funding. Robert B. Our Co.'s $50,000 offer was the only other bid. 

The M/V Katama began service with the Steamship Authority in 1986 and has made 80,491 trips to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, traveling more than 900,000 miles during those 38 years. Originally built in 1981 as an offshore supply vessel running to oil rigs and platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, the M/V Katama was acquired and converted by the Steamship Authority, which renamed it after Katama Beach on Martha's Vineyard.

The vessel was modified over the years, with a rounded stern added to fit loading ramps, a small passenger area, a 50-foot midsection, and more powerful EMD engines. The 235-foot Katama could carry up to 150 passengers and crew and could accommodate up to 39 vehicles.

The Steamship Authority is in the process of replacing three of its aging freight boats with converted offshore supply vessels recently acquired in 2022 from Hornbeck Offshore Services of Covington, Louisiana. The M/V Barnstable, which was just commissioned last week and will go into service on the Nantucket route in January, will soon be joined by the M/V Aquinnah and M/V Monomoy when their conversion at the Alabama Shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, is completed.

Here are some photos of the Katama through the years: