The newest vessel in the SIU-crewed NY Waterway fleet salutes the company’s visionary founder.
Union members and officials were on hand July 10 for the christening of the Arthur E. Imperatore at the Weehawken (New Jersey) Port Imperial Ferry Terminal. Representing the SIU were Executive Vice President Augie Tellez, Vice President Atlantic Coast Joseph Soresi, Port Agent Ray Henderson and numerous rankand- file members.
“The SIU has an excellent history with NY Waterway and we were happy to be a part of this important event,” Soresi stated. “I know that our members will do a great job aboard this new ferry as well as aboard the others throughout the fleet.”
“It was Arthur Imperatore’s bold vision that resulted in the transformation of the Weehawken waterfront and revitalized ferry passage across the Hudson. It is only fitting that this great new ship should bear his name,” said NY Waterway CEO Armand Pohan, who also acknowledged the decades-long service of SIU crews working board the company’s ferries along with that of the company’s staff.
Attendees also included NJ TRANSIT CEO Kevin Corbett, Mayor Ravi Bhalla of Hoboken, Mayor Michael McPartland of Edgewater, Assemblywoman Annette Chaparro and Jacob Roth, a representative of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey).
Emma Thompson, Imperatore’s granddaughter, performed the traditional champagne bottle-breaking for the ferry christening.
In a news release, the company described the new vessel as locally built and a “low-emission 2,000-horsepower, Tier 3-compliant ferryboat designed to carry 600 passengers. The ship has a service speed of 21 knots. The vessel is 109 feet long and 32 feet wide and draws just six feet of water depth, reducing the need for dredging near piers.”
Imperatore died in November 2020 at age 95. He founded NY Waterway in 1986 in Weehawken, and built it into a mass transit system which has transported approximately 300 million people. Mariners sailing aboard SIU-contracted NY Waterway ferries have performed more than 100 rescues. The crews perhaps are best known for their roles in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when they evacuated upwards of 163,000 people from Manhattan.
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