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FAST-GROWING NY WATERWAY GOES ABOVE AND BEYOND WITH SAFETY TRAINING
September 2002

As SIU-contracted NY Waterway—the largest privately owned commuter ferry operator in the United States—continues its rapid growth, perhaps the only thing surpassing the company’s expansion is its extraordinary commitment to safety training. Teaming up with the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education (based in Piney Point, Md.), NY Waterway during the past two years has facilitated training for hundreds of Seafarers who work aboard the ferries. Much of that instruction took place on the NY Waterway boats in New York, although a number of classes also were conducted at the school. In short, NY Waterway has gone far beyond any Coast Guard requirements for its shipboard personnel—all in the name of safety. For instance, this summer the company became the first private ferry operator in the nation to require its captains and deckhands to complete a formal course in crowd management (in this case, the Paul Hall Center’s Coast Guard-approved and STCW-compliant class). Two years ago, NY Waterway became the first to establish STCW Basic Safety Training as a requirement for captains and deckhands. Altogether, 162 NY Waterway personnel this year have taken crowd-control and crisis-management courses administered by Paul Hall Center instructors, all aboard NY Waterway boats. At least another 25 have been to Piney Point for other, individually scheduled courses including radar, medical care provider and others. Additionally, Seafarers at NY Waterway were scheduled to participate in a week’s worth of on-site first aid and CPR training beginning the week of Aug. 18, including a hands-on disaster-response exercise involving personnel from the Coast Guard and New York and New Jersey police and fire departments, respectively. High Standards “Keep in mind, they’re not required (by the Coast Guard) to have any of this training,” noted J.C. Wiegman, assistant director of training at the Paul Hall Center. “Within their segment of the industry, there aren’t many Coast Guard regulations, compared to the deep-sea segment. Their company safety standards actually exceed the Coast Guard standards for those types of vessels.” “Both the union and the school always aim to deliver the world’s best-trained mariners, and it’s a credit to the membership that they’ve been so enthusiastic about the training,” added SIU Vice President Atlantic Coast Joseph Soresi. “Everyone involved—the members, the school, the union and the company—has stayed totally focused on the main objective, which obviously is safety.” NY Waterway’s dedication to safety—and its utilization of the school—aren’t new. During 2001, for example, more than 100 mariners completed first aid and CPR courses. That same year, 65 SIU members employed by NY Waterway finished classes at Piney Point that were specifically scheduled for them. That training included STCW Basic Safety (which features first aid and CPR, water survival, fire fighting and social responsibilities); crowd control; crisis management; radar; and licensing. “We are fortunate through our affiliation with the SIU to be able to harness the resources of the Paul Hall Center to train our crews,” said Peter Johansen, NY Waterway’s senior director of regulatory compliance, safety and training. “Since we began requiring STCW Basic Safety Training, the result has been a dramatic increase in the safety of our vessels. Also, the recent crowd management training was a huge success and reflects both the quality of the school and the company’s seriousness about safety.” On the Front Lines Never were the crew members’ skills put to the test more than on September 11, a day that saw NY Waterway ferries evacuate upwards of 160,000 people from Manhattan. A few of the boats operated into the pre-dawn hours of the next day, providing help for emergency crews. Several SIU members rescued people who had fallen from piers into the water, most likely because of terrible visibility. In the aftermath of the attacks and the effort to evacuate survivors, NY Waterway Operations Manager Michael McPhillips described the SIU crews as “without a doubt, the most flexible and responsible people that anybody could have working for them. No matter what went on, these guys adapted to every situation, just as the whole maritime industry did.” Aside from that awful day, Johansen pointed out that NY Waterway crews periodically execute comparably routine water rescues in the port involving small numbers of victims (most or all of which have been reported throughout the years in the Seafarers LOG). Fleet Expansion Also becoming almost routine—though certainly never taken for granted—are the christenings of new high-speed boats for the NY Waterway fleet. The latest to join the flotilla is The Hoboken, christened Aug. 8 near the Hoboken Historical Museum. The newest boat can carry 149 passengers and is 79 feet long. Other new additions (some of which are replacement vessels) during the past year include the Moira Smith, the Austin Tobin, the Father Mychal Judge, the U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, the Brooklyn, the Fred V. Morrone and the Enduring Freedom.