{"id":374698,"date":"2026-08-18T14:45:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T14:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/374698\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T14:45:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T14:45:29","slug":"psta-receives-16-5m-in-federal-funding-for-new-tampa-bay-ferry-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/374698\/","title":{"rendered":"PSTA receives $16.5M in federal funding for new Tampa Bay ferry service"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PSTA<\/p>\n

PSTA receives $16.5M in federal funding for new Tampa Bay ferry service<\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy visited Tampa on Monday, including the Port Tampa Bay, where he announced $16.5 million in federal grant funding for a new Tampa Bay ferry service.<\/p>\n

Duffy said the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority will use the funding to build a new ferry capable of carrying 249 passengers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0PSTA acquires 2 boats for new Tampa Bay Ferry service\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

“It’s a huge win for commuters and local tourism alike,” Duffy said. “They’re going to receive $16.5 million to build a new 249 passenger ferry vessel. This new service will connect two of Tampa’s largest economic hubs in the Tampa Bay area, from downtown St. Petersburg to downtown Tampa.”<\/p>\n

For Tampa resident Christian Bonnier, the announcement brings back memories of the Cross Bay Ferry, which he used when the service was operating.<\/p>\n

“I went on it twice and then they announced they were shutting it down out of nowhere, which to me it was devastating because I had just found out about it,” Bonnier said.<\/p>\n

The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners voted to end the Cross Bay Ferry service in April 2025. Commissioners said the company had proposed providing a smaller vessel.<\/p>\n

“I believe that they were moving the vessel up north for use in another market during the summer and this was all they could come up with was a smaller vessel that wouldn’t make the trip as quickly, and obviously that was unacceptable to us,” said Hillsborough County Commissioner Harry Cohen.<\/p>\n

Duffy also announced more than $1 million in funding for Tampa’s Gulf Marine Repair Corp. The money will fund new equipment, the expansion of its welder program, and more.<\/p>\n

Port Tampa Bay President and CEO Paul Anderson said there is an overarching connection between the shipyard funding and grant funding for a new ferry.<\/p>\n

“It also puts money in the shipyards. That ship will have to be, under U.S. law, to be built in a U.S. shipyard. So it’s exciting news for both the transportation alternative as well as creating jobs in America shipyards,” Anderson said.<\/p>\n

PSTA officials said the two vessels the agency acquired earlier this summer<\/a> are in addition to the newly announced ferry.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Officials announced Bay Breeze has arrived in Tarpon Springs and will be undergoing refurbishment for passenger service locally by Tarpon Marine Service.<\/p>\n

“Having the\u00a0Bay Breeze\u00a0arrive here in Pinellas County is a major milestone and brings us one step closer to launching a reliable, sustainable, and long-term ferry service across the bay,” said Brad Miller, CEO of PSTA in a press release. “Both the\u00a0Bay Breeze\u00a0and\u00a0Bay Clipper\u00a0are excellent vessels, and now we can get to work on the\u00a0Bay Breeze\u00a0by making it service-ready and doing the same once the\u00a0Bay Clipper\u00a0arrives.”<\/p>\n

PSTA said Bay Clipper will arrive in Pinellas County in the coming weeks and will undergo refurbishment at the same facility.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PSTA receives $16.5M in federal funding for new Tampa Bay ferry service TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 U.S. Secretary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[151163,3424,45670,14851,56386,55322,12327,2558,135,1526,9019,137,136],"class_list":["post-374698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-christian-bonnier","tag-cross-bay-ferry","tag-ferry-service","tag-funding","tag-grant-funding","tag-paul-anderson","tag-pinellas-suncoast-transit-authority","tag-sean-duffy","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-area","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374698","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=374698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}