Ferry industry forced to adjust to period of slower growth

摘要

The U.S. ferry industry is absorbing the growth bubble of the past several years. Bryan Nichols, president of business development at Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in Freeland, Wash., used the word "maturing" to describe the current slowing of orders for new ferries. He sees the ferry business in the coming year "steadily growing but not booming." On the East Coast, Peter Duclos, president of Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding in Somerset, Mass., concurred. He noted that orders had slowed for the smaller to midsized ferries. At the same time, the long-discussed potential market for large vehicle-passenger ferries became an operating reality with the introduction of three vessels into service in 2004. Other large ferries are under contract.