North Carolina's department of transportation (NC DOT) is spending $9.7m on a new ferry.
The 183-foot-long vessel will be delivered from Bollinger Shipyards in Louisiana by 1 March, 2019, it said.
“This is a great first step in phasing out our smaller boats and replacing them with larger ones,” said NC DOT ferry division director Harold Thomas.
“Eventually it will allow us to increase our capacity with the same number of scheduled trips.”
The ship will carry 38 regular-sized vehicles, replacing a 22-year-old ferry that can transport 26.
