A boat-building company based in Dongara has won the $2.6 million contract to build Perth’s third ferry.

The 148-seat ferry will be built at Dongara Marine’s Port Denison facility and be finished by the end of next year.

It will be marginally longer and faster than the two Transperth ferries that operate on the Elizabeth Quay to South Perth route.

Along with its on-board toilets, it will allow it to travel further distances should ferry services of Perth Water ever be expanded.

Ferry patronage across the river reached record peaks shortly after the opening of Elizabeth Quay but it has waned in recent months.

In the first 11 months of this year, 610,053 people used the ferry, compared with 647,707 over the same period last year.

On a recent Transperth survey, 99 per cent of passengers said they were satisfied.

After the new ferry is launched, all three will be rotated through service. The MV Shelley Taylor-Smith — Transperth’s oldest ferry — will be used predominantly as a reserve and for extra capacity on special occasions.

A third ferry will also give Transperth greater flexibility during regular maintenance periods.

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said she was pleased such an important piece of public transport infrastructure would be made in regional WA.

“Dongara Marine employs 30 full-time staff and has a long history of manufacturing in WA,” she said. “It was established in 1975 by co-director John Fitzhardinge, who built his first boat at just nine-years-old.

“The company will also be adding an apprentice to its staff to help deliver the ferry.”

Company co-director Rohan Warr said the ferry project was an important contract for the company and, combined with other secured projects, meant it would employ two new workers and the apprentice.

Dongara Marine’s recent projects have included WA’s two biggest cray boats and the pilot boats for the Fremantle and Dampier ports.

“And weather permitting, we hope to deliver the newferry by sea,” Mr Warr said.