Eastern Shipbuilding Group Inc. (ESG) has completed the third and final Ollis-class Staten Island Ferry for the city of New York.
On Sept. 1, the 320'x70'x13' Dorothy Day departed ESG’s Port St. Joe (Fla.) shipyard, passenger ready with its Coast Guard Certificate of Inspection and the ABS class certificates in hand.
The new ferry has seating for up to 2,551 and a maximum passenger capacity of 4,500.
“It has been an honor for our company to build the three Ollis-class Staten Island ferries for the citizens of New York City marking a bold new chapter in the Staten Island Ferry’s 200-year-old legacy of public transportation,” Joey D’Isernia, president of Eastern, said in a statement announcing the completion of the contract. “These cutting edge ferries are now the premier vessels of the world's busiest passenger-only ferry system that has reliably served the people of New York, New Jersey, and the millions of tourists New York City welcomes each year. With the delivery of the Ollis class, ESG is proud to continue this time-honored tradition for decades to come.”
Dann Ocean Towing’s tug Sarah Dann is towing the ferry from Eastern’s shipyard in Port St. Joe to New York City. The trip will take approximately 14 days. Upon arrival in New York, the ferry will be staged at Caddell Dry Dock and Repair Co. in Staten Island, N.Y., for cleaning and another round of trials and training. It is scheduled to begin transporting passengers later this year.
The three Ollis-class double-ended 4,500 passenger ferries are from a design by Elliott Bay Design Group, with each ferry featuring four ABS Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) L12ME23B 750 rpm EPA Tier 4 marine propulsion engines, producing 2,495 hp at 750 rpm each. Two of the main engines connect to one ABS Reintjes DUP 3000 P combining gear and one ABS 36 RV6 ECS/285-2 Voith Schneider propeller at one end of the vessel. The other two Ollis-class ferries, the Michael H. Ollis and Sandy Ground, connect to the same set up at the other end of the ferry.
“Since entering service, the first two Ollis-class ferries built by Eastern Shipbuilding Group have operated flawlessly with zero unplanned operational downtime,” said D’Isernia.
The new Staten Island ferries series are named after fallen soldier of the Army 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, Army Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis. The Michael H. Ollis won the internationally recognized WorkBoat magazine’s Boat of the Year award last year.
The Dorothy Day is named for the renowned activist and journalist who lived and worked on Staten Island. Dorothy Day co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement.
ESG is providing regulatory and detailed production engineering, vessel construction, and delivery of the three new Staten Island Ollis-class Ferries. The ferries were constructed in ESG’s Allanton, Fla., yard. Outfitting, testing, and trials tasks were handled at ESG’s newest facility in Port St. Joe.
The new ferries are larger, reflect modern technology, and are designed to operate more safely in extreme weather conditions. Lessons learned from 9/11 were built into this fleet and they can be connected to New York fireboats, also built by Eastern, to support evacuations and rescue.
Ship’s service power is provided by three ABS, EPA Tier 3 marine continuous duty diesel generator sets powered by Caterpillar C18 engines driving 480 V, 60 Hz, 3-phase generators rated at 425 kW at 0.8 P.F. at 1,800 rpm.
Each Ollis-class ferry can carry 30,000 gals. of fuel and have crews of 16.
