NY Waterway’s fleet of passenger ferries keeps growing.The SIU-contracted company on Oct. 29 christened the Admiral Richard E. Bennis, a 79-foot, bow-loading catamaran built in Alaska. The high-speed boat can carry 149 passengers.
NY Waterway also christened two more ferries, the Bayonne and the Jersey City, this past summer.
“NY Waterway’s commitment to safety is an important component of their success and expansion, and the SIU of course is pleased with the delivery of more new jobs aboard the ferries,” said SIU Vice President Contracts Augie Tellez.
The Bennis honors the former Coast Guard captain of the port of New York/New Jersey who directed the waterborne evacuation of Manhattan after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The ferry also pays tribute to all the men and women of the Coast Guard.
“Our NY Waterway crews are on the water with these dedicated (Coast Guard) people every day, and we were honored to work with them on September 11, a day which was both our darkest moment and our finest hour,” said NY Waterway President Arthur Imperatore Jr.
September 11 wasn’t the only time that Seafarers on NY Waterway vessels assisted passengers in an emergency. Most recently, Seafarers who crew NY Waterway passenger ferries provided transportation for commuters in the New York region during the Aug. 14 power failure which forced the evacuation of office buildings, stranded thousands of commuters and inundated some hospitals with people who fell victim to the heat.
NY Waterway had 50 vessels in service immediately following the blackout. Captains and crews worked extended hours to accommodate as many commuters as possible. Despite the fact that many would-be passengers waited in line for more than two hours — a result of sheer volume — NY Waterway vessels and crews still got the job done. In the end, 200,000 people were ferried off the island, 40,000 more than the company accommodated during September 11.
SIU-crewed NY Waterway ferries provide more than 60,000 passenger trips per day — 16 million trips per year — on 21 routes between New Jersey and Manhattan, and between Rockland and Westchester counties. The company also offers a variety of leisure and sightseeing cruises in the New York area.
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