Block Island Ferry COVID-19 Information

4-5-20: NOTICE FOR PASSENGERS TRAVELING TO THE MAINLAND TO GROCERY SHOP ON MONDAYS OR THURSDAYS: CLICK HERE FOR SAFE PRACTICES WHEN TRAVELING TO THE MAINLAND.

3-26-2020: Notice to our passengers: We ask passengers that may have COVID-19 symptoms or are being treated for COVID-19 follow the links below to our travel restrictions and recommendations.
Click here if you are traveling from Pt. Judith.
Click here if you are traveling from Block Island.

3-25-2020: In our ongoing effort to work with local officials regarding Block Island’s Shelter-In-Place Order that includes travel restrictions, we will be adjusting our ferry schedule to best accommodate essential travel.

Effective Saturday, March 28th, we are reducing our scheduled trips to and from Block Island. This reduced schedule will run through April 15. Customers should refer to our website for future travel, after April 15^th. We will continue to monitor our ridership and the needs of the life line service and adjust our schedule accordingly.  All updates will be made available, on our website, Facebook and Twitter.

We remain committed to the community of Block Island and the transportation needs of it residents, as well as maintaining the delivery of essential supplies, cargo and fuel. We thank you for your patience and understanding as we all work together through these challenging times due to the COVID-19 virus.

MARCH 25 TO MARCH 28, 2020

MARCH 29 TO APRIL 15, 2020

3-24-2020:  The Town of New Shoreham has requested we share the following  SHELTER IN PLACE order which goes into effect at 5:00 pm on March 24, 2020 and will extend to APRIL 15, 2020. Click here for more info.

3-20-20: Starting Thursday, March 26^th; We will be making a minor schedule adjustment to the published Monday & Thursday ferry schedule. We will continue to provide 3 trips per day, however the timing adjustments will allow us to meet our staffing and cleaning needs.

The Revised March 26^th-April 26^th Traditional Ferry Schedule will be as follows:

DAY OF WEEK	DEPARTS POINT JUDITH	DEPARTS BLOCK ISLAND
Monday & Thursday	8a, 11:30a, 3:45p	9:30a, 2:00p, 5:15p

If you have a vehicle reservation on one of these dates, or need a future car reservation, please call our reservation office 866-783-7996 Ext. 3.  Click here for reservation office hours.

We thank you for your patience and understanding as we all work through these challenging times due to the COVID-19 virus.

3-20-20: The Town of New Shoreham has requested we share the following infomational notification relating to discretionary travel to Block Island.  To view this information click here.

3-19-20: We are continuing to operate our ferry service on our published schedule. Our top priority is the safety of our passengers and our staff. Our vessel and landside employees are continuing to working diligently to clean and sanitize our vessel and facilities. We are fortunate to have a dedicated staff & crew that allows us to maintain these high standards. 

In the interest of reducing the spread of the COVID-19 virus, we recommend that for those passengers traveling with a vehicle on the ferry: that they consider remaining in their vehicle for the duration of the trip, if they are comfortable doing so. For those passengers that are traveling without a vehicle; we strongly recommend social distancing, avoid congregating in groups, and utilizing outside seating, weather permitting.  As a general safety and health precaution please do not congregate in or on the stairwells of the ferry at any time. All on-board food and beverage concessions remain closed until further notice. We ask our passengers be respectful of other passengers and our crew by following CDC guidelines as posted at our facilities and on our vessel that will help containing the spread on the virus. 

3-16-2020:  In continuing our efforts to keep our customers and staff safe we have elected to close our on-board concessions including all food & beverage service, beginning Tuesday, March 17^th until further notice.

3-15-2020: Considering recent developments with the COVID-19 virus in the last several days; Interstate Navigation IS OPERATING AND WILL CONTINUE TO OPERATE its lifeline ferry service from Point Judith to Block Island, RI.

We will continue to operate our ferry on our published schedule; unless we are requested to do otherwise by the applicable Federal or State authorities that regulate us. It is important to note that misinformation is often distributed through social media and third-party platforms. For that reason, we ask our customers and the traveling public to refer to our official BLOCK ISLAND FERRY website; www.blockislandferry.com for accurate and up to date information.

In addition, if circumstances change, we will also provide ferry service updates, through our social media platforms (Facebook & Twitter), which will in turn refer customers to our website: www.blockislandferry.com That information will also be shared with the local media and other news outlets.

The health and safety of our traveling passengers and employees is our highest priority. To that end we are informing our customers and passengers of the steps that we are taking to employ precautions against the COVID-19 virus, commonly known as coronavirus. The measures that we are taking are in response to the latest health advisories from Federal, State and local officials, and to keep passengers and employees healthy and safe. We have instructed our employees to frequently wash hands for at least 20 seconds and have extensively deployed the use of latex or rubber gloves. We have instructed our ticketing, freight terminal and vessel personnel to maintain their cleaning schedule and work to disinfect all hand railings, tabletops, door handles, seats, faucets and toilets in between trips, at a minimum, and during trips as needed. We are well-stocked with cleaning supplies and have ordered extra supplies to the extent that supplies are available for our customers to use while traveling with us. In following these extra measures, we hope that our passengers and employees will remain stay healthy.

Interstate Navigation Co.  (The Block Island Ferry) is taking guidance from the Rhode Island Department of Health, Federal Centers for Disease Control, and the U.S. Coast Guard on any operational changes that may be required due to the virus. So far, no specific changes for ferry vessels have been recommended.

If special transportation needs are required on board the ferry to and from Block Island, please contact William McCombe, our Director of Security and Block Island’s EMA director at (401) 675-1234.

Thank you for your help in this matter.