Page 72 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - ΜΑΙΟΣ 2023

INTERNATIONAL WATERS

lines, industry partners and stakeholders,
and government to support the development
of cruise as a resilient and profitable travel
industry sector.”
NEW YORK CITY’S FIRST PUBLIC,
HYBRID-ELECTRIC FERRY
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Trust for
Governors Island President and CEO Clare
Newman introduced New York City’s first
public, hybrid-electric ferry. The new ferry,
the first vessel of its kind to provide public
transportation within New York Harbor, will
be equipped with a hybrid propulsion system
that will reduce air pollution by allowing it to
toggle between zero-emission battery-only
power and battery-assisted hybrid with
diesel backup. The battery-assist mode will
allow the new ferry to reduce carbon diox-
ide emissions by approximately 600 tonnes
annually. In addition, future plans for rapid
vessel charging installation will enable the
ferry to operate with zero-emission bat-
tery-only propulsion, at which point emis-
sions will drop to nearly zero.
“Visiting Governors Island is a great way
to support cutting-edge climate solutions,
and soon, visitors will be able to go one step
further just by travelling there,” said Mayor
Adams. “As New Yorkers transition to greener
forms of transportation, the city and our part-
ners are leading the way with cleaner, more
efficient ways to go just about anywhere. The
next generation deserves a green city and a
vibrant Governors Island, and this first-of-its-
the UK. Some regions such as South West kind ferry will help us deliver both.”
and North West England and Scotland are “Governors Island continues its commit-
reporting likely figures in excess of this ment to a more accessible and environmen-
national growth rate, said Ian McQuade, tally friendly future, exemplified in today’s
Chair, Cruise Britain. announcement of the first hybrid-electric
In 2022, cruise passengers arrived for the ferry in its fleet for public transportation,”
day or embarked through 58 cruise ports said Deputy Mayor for Economic and Work-
aboard 107 individual ships, from Kirkwall force Development Maria Torres-Springer. “I
and Aberdeen in the north to Guernsey in encourage all New Yorkers to use this new,
the English Channel, with the vast majority cleaner ferry to visit the island in New York
of ships calling on multiple occasions. Fif- Harbor beginning next summer.”
ty-two different cruise lines were welcomed, The new ferry will be able to serve up to 1,200
and ships visited UK ports as diverse as Bel- passengers at a time. It has a cruising speed
fast and Bristol, Portland and Portsmouth, of 10 knots and features modern passenger
Douglas (Isle of Man), Dover, and many more. amenities, including a lower-level ADA-ac-
“The UK offers an incredibly diverse cruise cessible lounge and restrooms on each level.
holiday experience for guests, and this is It will replace the diesel-powered Lt. Samuel
one of the most powerful reasons for the S. Coursen, the Trust’s current vehicle and
growth projections that we are seeing," passenger ferry, which was commissioned by
commented McQuade. “Cruise Britain and the U.S. Army in 1956 and has been in con-
all its members continue to work with cruise tinuous use since.

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