PEAKS ISLAND, Me. — A family-run ferry company in Maine has been awarded a Cat CT660 vocational truck as part of Caterpillar’s ‘Win a Cat Truck’ contest.

LPA Marine, a fourth generation family business, submitted the video that received the most votes from visitors to the contest Web site.

The contest garnered more than 300 entries that received over 47,500 votes, Caterpillar announced.

“We have always struggled to find a truck that can match Caterpillar’s balance of good design, reliability and durability. We think Caterpillar can do for our trucks what it has consistently done for our marine and excavating equipment,” said LPA Marine’s Coley Mulkern in his entry. He noted the company has used Cat equipment and engines to serve communities and islands along coastal Maine.

 “We received many great submissions, but when you watch LPA Marine’s video, it’s easy to understand why this entry garnered more than 3,000 votes from the general public,” said George Taylor, director of Caterpillar’s On-Highway Truck Group. “Mulkern and The LPA team did an outstanding job explaining their business, their loyalty to Caterpillar and their need for a new CT660.”

LPA Marine was founded in 1967 as a barging company. Today, it operates two large Cat-powered landing crafts that deliver cargo between the New England coast and island properties.

“We buy Cat earthmoving equipment and depend exclusively on Cat marine engines to power our ferries,” Mulkern said.

The Win a Cat Truck contest was opened Aug. 1 to US and Canadian companies. Entrants were asked to describe the vocational application in which they’d work the Cat CT660 and how the truck would aid their operations. Online voting occurred between Oct. 1 and 15. Cat says LPA Marine will begin spec’ing its new CT660 in the coming weeks and will take delivery in the first quarter of 2012.

The winning video can be viewed at DriveCat.com.