High-Speed Ferries To Run On East River, And Other Routes

Four NY Waterway ferries, like this one, length, 64 feet, beam, 17 feet, draft, 30 inches and with three Caterpillar 3406E electronic engines, producing 600 hp, and three Hamilton water jets, will be plying the East and Hudson Rivers this year, according to NY Waterway President Arthur E. Imperatore, Jr.

New York Waterway has ordered four new high-speed ferries from Allen Marine, Inc., of Sitka, Alaska, and expects to have some of the new boats in service in 2001 on new routes, including the East River, NY Waterway President Arthur E. Imperatore, Jr.., announced.

The new "Sea Otter" class ferries carry 97 passengers at speeds of more than 30 knots, approximately 35 mph. They are single-hull boats with three water jet engines and include the bow-loading feature unique to NY Waterway ferries, allowing safe, efficient passenger loading and unloading. The ferries cost $1 million each.

Otters, due in New York this year, would be able to carry commuters from East 90th Street to Pier 11 at Wall Street in 15 minutes, or from Hunters Point to Pier 11 in 12 minutes, Imperatore said.

In a unique trans-continental partnership, NY Waterway has taken delivery of four 27-knot catamaran ferries from Allen Marine and is expecting delivery of a fifth catamaran ferry in the next few weeks.

"We had to go all the way to Alaska, but NY Waterway has found in Allen Marine a family-owned business, like our own, committed to the highest standards of innovative design and reliable performance," Imperatore said.

"These Otter-class ferries will enable us to move forward with a long-standing project we have undertaken with New York City and with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to establish East River service."

In addition to the Otters, NY Waterway is tank-testing the final design for still another new class of high-speed ferry, a larger, faster catamaran which will be placed in service in the spring of 2002 on a new route between Monmouth County, New Jersey, and Manhattan. Allen Marine will build at lest three of these new boats in the next 12 months.

"We are proud that NY Waterway recognizes the quality of the work done by the men and women of Allen Marine," said David Allen. "In Sitka, we take safety and reliability very seriously."

NY Waterway ferries built by Allen Marine are shipped by ocean-going freighter through the Panama Canal to New York.

The new vessels are powered by three Caterpillar 3406 electronic engines, generating 550 hp each. The engines drive three Hamilton water jets. The hull design minimizes the vessels’ wakes.

Passengers enjoy comfortable seating in a climate-controlled cabin with restroom. NY Waterway, the largest privately-owned commuter ferry operator in the U.S., presently carries 32,000 people per day—eight million passengers per year—with 23 boats serving 10 routes between New Jersey and Manhattan and between Rockland and Westchester Counties, reducing auto traffic and pollution in the Metropolitan area. The company is also developing several additional routes.