{"id":317093,"date":"2026-06-23T17:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/317093\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T17:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:57:08","slug":"psta-acquires-2-boats-for-new-tampa-bay-ferry-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/317093\/","title":{"rendered":"PSTA acquires 2 boats for new Tampa Bay Ferry service"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 Two new vessels have been acquired for the new Tampa Bay Ferry service, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority announced on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The PSTA announced it purchased the Bay Breeze and San Juan Clipper vessels with a $4.8 million federal ferry grant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 mr-2\">Vessel<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 mr-2\">Passenger capacity<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 mr-2\">Bay Breeze<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 mr-2\">Up to 250 people<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 mr-2\">San Juan Clipper<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 mr-2\">Up to 149 people<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Bay Breeze courtesy of PSTA\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/b439cbb727b1db37bf6483c991306580.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Bay Breeze courtesy of PSTA<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Bay Breeze courtesy of PSTA\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6466e60dff094f281853e1655c8e3b00.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Bay Breeze courtesy of PSTA<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Bay Breeze courtesy of PSTA\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/de73e86f45d231c8b0ddca853bd12de8.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Bay Breeze courtesy of PSTA<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Bay Breeze courtesy of PSTA\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6bc19335ff2d451146b76e143367cf2a.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Bay Breeze courtesy of PSTA<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Bay Breeze courtesy of PSTA\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/62a55250e248201a5acc93771713f32d.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Bay Breeze courtesy of PSTA<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Bay Breeze courtesy of PSTA\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c173d44f8e7ca8ee5f2a5be60e0dd29e.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Bay Breeze courtesy of PSTA<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Bay Breeze courtesy of PSTA\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fcfb2ec1acc261c336b915729f30eea1.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Bay Breeze courtesy of PSTA<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Both vessels will require minor upgrades, including refurbishment and painting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">They are scheduled to begin their journeys to Florida next month.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/dcf873f2d589755f48839205eb3b3393.jpeg\"\/><img alt=\"Clipper courtesy of PSTA\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ff82d96e1fe1aabe89d14fcf32b247d5.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Clipper courtesy of PSTA<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Clipper courtesy of PSTA\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/35b574835e5ae327fcac01a8f39df1a4.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Clipper courtesy of PSTA<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Clipper courtesy of PSTA\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/7a42dd07eb186d705960ba533849f155.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Clipper courtesy of PSTA<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Clipper courtesy of PSTA\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a214071c606fc394c8ed17203caf7675.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Clipper courtesy of PSTA<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Clipper courtesy of PSTA\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1529cd311d3811e95efed967f4fe5e26.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Clipper courtesy of PSTA<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Clipper courtesy of PSTA\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c8853a8aaf7ce240dba771344947283a.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Clipper courtesy of PSTA<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cFinding the right vessels was one of the biggest hurdles in launching this service,\u201d said Brad Miller, CEO of PSTA. \u201cNow that we\u2019ve officially purchased the\u00a0Bay Breeze\u00a0and\u00a0Clipper, we can focus on getting them ready to serve Tampa Bay passengers for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wfla.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.&quot;}\" class=\"link \"> For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 Two new vessels have been acquired for the new Tampa Bay Ferry service,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[131772,12327,12824,135,1526,137,136],"class_list":["post-317093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-bay-breeze","tag-pinellas-suncoast-transit-authority","tag-psta","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}