There are many famous harbours and rivers across the globe that are traversed by equally famous passenger ferries including the Hythe Ferry, Gosport Ferry, Woolwich Ferry, Mersey Ferry, Manly Ferry, Star Ferry and New York’s Staten Island Ferry. The latter was founded in 1817 and links the Whitehall Terminal on Manhattan Island (Lower Manhattan, NYC) with the St. George Terminal on Staten Island, a route with a distance of 5.2 miles (8.4km/4.5-nautical miles). The Staten Island Ferry is free, generally employs 8 or 9 passenger vessels and transports around 22 million passengers a year between the two locations. The most recent figures available for the link show that 25.20 million passengers were carried in 2019. On a normal weekday that offers 117 ferry crossings with 4 ferries in service, this iconic operation is used by a staggering 70,000 people and has been described as one of the last remaining vestiges of an entire ferry system in New York City that transported people to/from Manhattan before the bridges were built. The 22-minute crossing, which is free of charge, also doubles as an excellent sightseeing service for tourists. Over 40,000 ferry crossings are made annually with weekend schedules usually providing 3 ferries and around 96 trips per day.

The ferries ply their trade day and night, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and are owned and maintained by the New York City Department of Transport.

The ferry fleet consists of several generations of vessel. Although subject to change as newbuilds are delivered, the 2021 operational fleet list read as follows:-

Alice Austen – Austen Class – 500gt/built 1986/1,280 passengers. Named after an American photographer

John Noble – Austen Class – 500gt/built 1986/1,280 passengers. Named after a renowned maritime artist

John F. Kennedy – 2,109gt/built 1965/3,500 passengers. Named after John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Andrew J. Barberi – Barberi Class – 3,335gt/built 1981/6,000 passengers. Named after a Curtis High School football coach of the 1950s-1970s

Samuel I. Newhouse – Barberi Class – 4,570gt/built 1981/4,500 passengers. Named after a Jewish-American broadcasting businessman, magazine and newspaper publisher, born in 1895

Guy V. Molinari – Molinari Class – 3,200gt/built 2003/4,400 passengers. Named after a Representative from New York, born in New York City, 1928

Senator John J. Marchi – Molinari Class – 3,200gt/built 2004/4,400 passengers. Named after a 1921-born New York State Senator who represented Staten Island for a record 50 years

Spirit of America-God Bless America! – Molinari Class – 3,200gt/built 2004/4,400 passengers. Entered service April 2006 and the keel was built with steel from The World Trade Centre Towers. She was named to honour the Spirit and Unity of America after the 9/11 attacks.

The Staten Island Ferry originally provided a limited car ferry service but this was discontinued. Of the large vessels in the present fleet, the three Molinari Class ferries and the John F. Kennedy have the capability to convey vehicles, while the two Barberi Class ferries were built without this function. The service provides a passenger-only service, with bicycles permitted to be wheeled aboard via the lower gangway to the Main Deck. Fifteen years passed before the next Staten Island Ferry newbuild graced the waters of New York Harbour and this evolved class of vessel is the subject of the newbuild feature.

New Class for a New Era

The latest generation of Staten Island Ferry is the Ollis-Class trio of newbuilds with work on these beginning back in August 2014 following a study into the future of the ferry fleet that concluded the most economical option was to construct new ships instead of rebuilding existing members of the fleet. The Elliott Bay Design Group was awarded a contract to design the new ferries, intended to succeed the John F. Kennedy and the Andrew J. Barberi. This would result in one additional ship joining the fleet overall. In September 2014 the funding for the project, covering the construction of two of the new trio, was secured with a $191.6m federal grant from the Hurricane Sandy relief bill.

Ferry users were also asked to vote on the types of seats that would be installed on each Ollis-Class ship to seat a minimum of 2,500 passengers during a crossing. In November 2016, Eastern Shipbuilding was confirmed as the chosen shipyard for constructing the ships, with the shipyard being awarded the contract officially on 1st March 2017. The final cost of the three vessels was $314 million, covered by the federal grant plus state and city funding. The new design of New York Harbour workhorse would have an overall length of 97.54m, a length between perpendiculars of 93.67m, a beam of 21.34m, a draught of 4.11m and a hull depth of 6.30m. The displacement for the Ollis Class ships is 3,440t, the gross tonnage is 5,919gt and passenger capacity is for 4,500. The vessel length overall was increased slightly relative to the Barberi and Molinari Class vessels to maximise internal space without compromising operational requirements. Within the available footprint of the vessel, the primary goal was to fit as many seats as possible on the three passenger decks (the Main Deck, Saloon Deck, and Bridge Deck).

Additionally, it was desired that the Main and Saloon Decks be at the same elevation as the two-tier terminal loading ramps, similar to the Molinari Class and the John F. Kennedy. Replicating a feature from the latter ship, direct and unimpeded walkways from the loading ramps into the passenger spaces were identified as a means for reducing loading times by providing passengers direct access into the vessel without bunching around the external doors. The interior of the three passenger decks was designed to be robust and capable of surviving high passenger traffic with the minimum of maintenance. Indeed, the layout of each deck appears somewhat “clinical” with clean lines and large bench seats to do the intended job. For the seating, the look and feel of the wooden seating aboard the John F. Kennedy was preferred by the ridership of the Staten Island Ferries, the conclusion of the aforementioned vote. Wooden seating was not an option for the vessel due to fire considerations, but the seat profiles and wood look were given due consideration. The design team looked for and contacted several seating vendors, both traditional marine and non-marine.

Three companies were approached and they agreed to provide seating mock-ups with a similar look to the John F. Kennedy seating, but having the durability of the seating on the Molinari Class vessels. These mock-ups were placed in the ferry terminals to give the public a preview of potential options for the new vessels. The chosen seats are of aluminium fabrication to ensure they are completely non-flammable, have a maximum allowable weight per seat, and are durable and tamper resistant. The fourth and uppermost deck, the Hurricane Deck, is for the crew of 16 only; with both wheelhouses, ventilation spaces and various machinery such as the emergency generator located here. Other features of the Ollis Class include phone-charging outlets, an oval upper-deck promenade that will for the first time serve as an outdoor ‘walking track’ for passengers, a large snack bar, heated decks to eliminate ice and snow build-up and unobstructed skyline views around the circumference of the bridge deck. The new ferries also offer a lift to enable passengers with limited mobility to easily access the various decks. Crew facilities include a mess room and changing/wash rooms.

The Ollis Class is operated with a crew of four in the wheelhouse, a captain, a helmsman, a navigator, and a lookout. The primary concern with the arrangement of the wheelhouses when designing these new ferries was to place the propulsion controls in a position which was comfortable to operate from both a sitting and standing position while also providing clear line of sight to the bow. The main consoles were moved aft from the forward windows in order to provide access for the lookout. An asymmetrical console design was chosen to both provide the captain more space and allow for new equipment to be added without modifying the existing consoles. The external spaces on the Bridge Deck are fitted with lockable security gates to allow the ends of the vessel to be closed off during low traffic times to simplify security. Also, great care was taken to ensure there were no hiding spaces on the vessel and that all bulkheads and ceilings would be as smooth and tamper proof as possible, hence their clean lines. Similarly, passenger seating is open underneath and all of the fittings in the toilet spaces are selected based on experience with the other vessels in the fleet.

In compliance with an existing city-wide emergency response plan, ferries operating in New York Harbour must also be capable of operating in a first responder role when absolutely necessary, such as the evacuation of Lower Manhattan during the 9/11 terror attacks of 2001. The Staten Island Ferries are double-ended vessels, which operate consistently in the same orientation with respect to their route. As a result, the ends are labelled as the New York end and the Staten Island end. The New York end is assumed to be the forward end for standard naval architecture purposes, and port and starboard notations are referred to following that orientation.

The design process also required attention to be given to improving the hull form to enhance efficiency, with analysis concluding that pressure distribution on the hull could be improved along with round bilges in place of hard chines throughout the mid-body. Overall, these initial improvements resulted in a reduction in resistance of approximately 8%. Building upon these results, additional changes were made by placing emphasis on maximising the waterline length, reducing the half angle of entrance, and improving the overall wave-making resistance of the hull. The overall result was a 12% decrease in hull resistance. These changes were based on deep water analysis but shallow water effect also had to be a priority as the average depth of water in New York Harbour is 15 metres. Further amendments were required before settling for the optimum hull profile whilst the overall design load displacement was reduced by approximately 270 tonnes. With regard to the machinery below decks, a total of 7 propulsion packages were evaluated for the new ferries. Initially it was decided to install two Voith Schneider Propellers at each end of the vessel but this required considerable alterations to the hull and internal hull spaces.

Whilst a quartet of propellers was beneficial for redundancy purposes, the operational and re-design costs resulted in a larger single Voith Schneider propulsion unit at each end being settled upon. These are Voith Schneider 36 RV6 ECS/285-2 propeller units with a 3,200mm blade orbit diameter, six 3,022mm long blades and an overall unit diameter of 4,490mm. The dry weight of a 36 RV6 ECS/285-2 unit is around 88,000kg and the power output is 3800-3900kW at 700-1200rpm. The hydraulic supply for each propeller is provided by a mechanically driven pump system as an electric set-up may have required the generators to be uprated to Tier IV.

The minimum transit speed for the route is 15.6 knots but there was a desire to increase this to account for increasing passenger volumes in the future, the prevailing tidal currents, weather conditions and vessel traffic in the harbour. So, the maximum speed is 17 Knots with an increased cruising speed of 16.3 knots. Due to familiarity with the manufacturer within the existing fleet, Electro Motive Diesel (EMD) main engines were selected in the form of a quartet of 12-cylinder EMD 12ME23B units, each with an output of 2,495hp/ 1,861kW. The E23 engine series has a dry weight of 17,690kg, a height of 3.4m, a length of 7.17m and an overall width of 1.9m. Each pair of engines drive a Reintjes DUP 3000 P gearbox that is coupled to the propeller unit at each end of the ferry.

The service speed is achieved at 80% of the engines’ maximum continuous rating. On board power is provided by a trio of Tier III 430kW Caterpillar C18 generators. In October 2018, the timeline for the ferries’ delivery was pushed back as some of the parts for the first two Ollis-Class ships were being manufactured the Eastern Shipbuilding shipyard which had been severely damaged after Hurricane Michael struck. Hull No.219, the Michael H. Ollis, was launched in November 2019 at the Allanton Shipyard in Panama City, Florida, with an expected delivery date of August 2020.

Sister vessel Sandy Ground was launched 7 months later. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the arrival of the new fleet was delayed again in July 2020. The first of the newbuilds was towed from Eastern Shipbuilding’s Port St. Joe facility in Florida to New York on 6th August 2021 before making her debut. Dann Ocean Towing’s 393gt/1978-built Colonel towed the vessel on the 12-day voyage and she was placed in the Caddell Dry Dock upon arrival for cleaning plus further trials and training. The Shipbuilder’s Port St. Joe site was officially opened on 8th July 2021 following a $6 million infrastructure improvement project, adding to the company’s operational capabilities a 40-acre site that encompasses deep water quaysides with unrestricted access to the Gulf of Mexico test and trials grounds. The new facility is dedicated to final outfitting and testing of commercial new construction vessels as well as topside repairs. The site is also subject to a $50 million, 15,000 tonne dry-dock project to provide full vessel sustainment services. With three facilities along the Gulf Coast on Florida’s Panhandle, Eastern Shipbuilding is one of the only shipbuilders in the U.S.A that can perform commercial shipbuilding competitively while simultaneously managing a large government programme. The Nelson Street Facility and operational headquarters is dedicated to the U.S. Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter project to ensure continuous and uninterrupted construction of those critical national security assets.

The company is well advanced on a $45 million facility optimisation project at this site whilst the main Allanton facility is where Eastern Shipbuilding operates the commercial side of the business on the shores of St. Andrew’s Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Eastern Shipbuilding’s original shipyard was established in 1976 for the purpose of constructing commercial fishing boats for the company’s founder and President, Brian R. D’Isernia. As the owner of a fleet of commercial fishing vessels, Mr. D’Isernia ventured into the world of shipbuilding after learning first hand that the only way to get the type of vessels he wanted was to design the vessels, write the specifications, and build them himself.

Named in Honour

On 4th October the first $85 million Ollis Class ship was officially commissioned and named in New York by Mayor Bill de Blasio, Department of Transportation Commissioner Hank Gutman, and Staten Island Borough President Jimmy Oddo. The SSG Michael H. Ollis is named in honour of Staff Sergeant Michael H. Ollis, a New Dorp resident who was killed in Afghanistan while shielding fellow soldiers, including a Polish Officer, from a suicide bomber on 28th August 2013, while serving during Operation Enduring Freedom. The mayor said that Staff Sergeant Ollis represented the best of New York City, a city proud to honour his legacy with a stunning addition to the world-famous Staten Island Ferry fleet. The SSG Michael H. Ollis also serves as a vivid reminder of the 93 New York City Veterans who have given their lives in combat operations during the wars since 9/11 and of their sacrifices in defending the freedom of New Yorkers. During the ceremony, the city was also thanked for recognising the selflessness of Michael Ollis by naming the new ferry after him. He was a kid from Staten Island who grew into a man, who became a soldier, and then a bonafide hero. Staff Sergeant Ollis has received several honours posthumously including: Distinguished Service Cross, Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Silver Star, The Audie Murphy Medallion, Polish Gold Star Medal of Honour, and the Afghanistan Star from Poland for his valour. He was just 24 years old. At the time of writing, a set date for the SSG Michael H. Ollis to enter service had not been announced.

Sister vessel, the Sandy Ground (Hull 220) was launched on 26th June 2020 at Eastern Shipbuilding’s Allanton facility in Panama City, Florida. The launch and traditional champagne ceremony was undertaken by Brittany Trumbull, wife of Jay Trumbull, Florida House of Representative, representing the 6th District, This ship’s name honours one of the U.S.A’s first Black settlements, located on Staten Island’s South Shore, which also served as a stop on the Underground Railway.

The vessel will enter service in 2022. The third member of the Ollis Class, Hull 221, was named Dorothy Day in honour of the legendary Catholic peace activist who lived on Staten Island. The launch ceremony took place on 26th March 2021 at Allanton Shipyard with Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, representing New York’s 11th congressional district, serving as the ship’s sponsor. She also broke the ceremonial bottle of champagne over the bow. The Dorothy Day will join her sisters in 2022.

Special thanks must go to Jessica Ditto, Vice President of the Communications Dept. at Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc., for all the invaluable help with information and images.