PARIS — School officials say they believe the school district’s $2 million biomass furnace arrived in Boston by ship on Friday, but as of Tuesday, it had not arrived in Maine.

Oxford Hills School District Facilities Director David Marshall said the two 40-foot crates containing the furnace were due in Boston Harbor to go through customs on Friday. From there is was to be shipped by truck to Cote Crane in Auburn, which has been contracted to install it at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School.

“I’m really pleased,” he said of the crate’s arrival. The furnace had originally been expected to arrive last fall and be up and running by Jan. 5. The new target date for start-up is now in April.

The furnace was shipped from the manufacturing plant in Austria on Jan. 17.

“It took three days longer to cross the water than expected,” Marshall said.

Daniel Cote Jr., vice president of Cote Crane, said Tuesday, he had not heard anything about the crates’ arrival but that it wasn’t unusual. “It could show up at any time,” he said.

Cote Crane will truck the furnace to the high school where they will install it.

The conversion project from oil to wood chips at the high school was planned to address escalating fuel costs and reduce dependence on foreign oil. The furnace will supplement about 90 percent of the consumption of No. 2 fuel oil.

Two of the three oil burners will remain in place to supplement heat in the shoulder seasons of fall and spring and in case the biomass furnace goes down during the winter.

Major construction took place over the last several months to house the biomass furnace. The construction included a 57-foot by 22-foot-wide concrete floor for the wood chip storage unit in the back of the high school and an addition to house the biomass furnace.

The biomass furnace, which is being paid for in part by a $750,000 state Department of Conservation grant, is expected to save the district as much as $120,000 a year in fuel savings.

The overall project will also add LED lighting and sensors in the high school parking lot and equipment to heat water in the locker rooms showers in the summer.

ldixon@sunjournal.com