Fast boats to island fun

NEW COURSE: At Quonset Point in North Kingstown, Charles A. Donadio Jr., president of Rhode Island Fast Ferry, left, shakes hands with Jeffrey Grybowski, CEO of Deepwater Wind LLC, at the April christening ceremony for the United States' first offshore-wind service vessel, The Atlantic Pioneer, in which Donadio invested $4 million. / COURTESY TRIPP BURMAN PHOTOGRAPHY
NEW COURSE: At Quonset Point in North Kingstown, Charles A. Donadio Jr., president of Rhode Island Fast Ferry, left, shakes hands with Jeffrey Grybowski, CEO of Deepwater Wind LLC, at the April christening ceremony for the United States' first offshore-wind service vessel, The Atlantic Pioneer, in which Donadio invested $4 million. / COURTESY TRIPP BURMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Entering his 15th season of operating Rhode Island Fast Ferry Inc., president and CEO Charles A. Donadio Jr., specializes in operating high-speed, aluminum catamarans off the East Coast.

“I’ve always been on the ocean,” Donadio said. “I surfed for over 30 years. I was a lifeguard for 10 years. You get to be on the water and meet people from all over the world.”

Donadio’s career spans back to the mid-1990s, when he owned and operated the Southland Riverboat, a flat-bottom riverboat that offered sightseeing cruises and other tourism services on Point Judith Pond and the Harbor of Refuge. He also owned a second company beginning in 1998, operating a high-speed ferry to Block Island from Point Judith.

Today, Rhode Island Fast Ferry, a seasonal water-transportation company, runs from May through October. He’s invested upward of $18 million into the company, which comprises three vessels: the 400-passenger, fast-ferry Millennium, a catamaran; the 100-passenger Ava Pearl, also a high-speed catamaran; and the Atlantic Pioneer, the first U.S.-built, wind-farm crew transfer vessel.

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Fast Ferry, through its commercial offshore-wind support arm Atlantic Wind Transfers, has contracted a 20-year charter with Deepwater Wind LLC to support the construction and operation of the Block Island offshore wind farm. The five-turbine, 30-megawatt project is slated for completion later this year, and if successful in coming online would mark the first operational offshore wind project in the United States.

Donadio invested $4 million in the Atlantic Pioneer, which was built by Blount Boats in Warren. The design is based off vessels developed in Europe, where the offshore wind industry is more developed. It can deliver 16 technicians, along with three crew and 12 tons of equipment directly to the base of the turbine or offshore platform.

State and congressional leaders in April joined to christen the first-of-its-kind vessel, and Donadio is hopeful the new part of his business will grow alongside the nascent offshore-wind market in the Northeast.

Rhode Island Fast Ferry currently provides services off Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Florida and Bermuda, as well as to Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard. The company is seeking approval from the R.I. Public Utilities Commission to operate a new high-speed ferry from Quonset Point in North Kingstown to Block Island. Donadio says the process has taken two-and-a-half years, but he’s hopeful a decision will come soon.

“There are high-speed vessels from Newport, Fall River, New London and Point Judith, so there’s clearly growth and demand,” he said.

Pending approval, Donadio plans to invest another $7 million to build the new vessel, which he’s hopeful could help further spur nautical economic development in the Ocean State.

“It would create a lot more jobs and bring in new people to Block Island,” he said. •

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