The recession has resulted in millions of lost jobs, which means fewer people across the country are using ferries and other forms of public transportation to get to work. Consequently, metropolitan transit providers are seeing fewer dollars in their coffers.
"Everybody who depends on state budgets is going to suffer," said Ed Welch, legislative director at the Passenger Vessel Association , Arlington, Va. "State governments are deferring large capital expenditures until state budgets start improving."
Welch said sometimes it's just a matter of a boat being moved to a successful route from one that hasn't been so successful. "It really depends on location by location," he said.
But it's not just public transportation entities that are suffering. Private ferry operations that run to summer destinations and tourist attractions are feeling it too.
NY Waterway , which operates the largest ferry and excursion fleet in New York Harbor, is a private company that caters to both commuters and tourists. The company's founder, Arthur E. Imperatore, said his company has felt the sting from a bad economy in both markets.
"I think we have experienced some declines," he said. "But things seem to have stabilized. We're not losing customers as we did last year."
Imperatore said it wasn't just the economy, though. Poor weather made a bad situation worse. "Our discretionary ridership was off quite a bit. This is different from commuters who might have lost their jobs," he said. "The weather in 2009 was some of the worst. We had so many rainy days from late spring right through the summer. And we're starting off this year with some tough weather."
As for 2010, Imperature is unsure. "Who the hell knows? It's a guess. You play it a day at a time. We hope we'll be able to get some relief."
Bill Clark, owner of South Ferry Inc., a private Long Island, N.Y., ferry service that connects Shelter Island and Long Island's South Fork, said he's never seen anything like it. "The industry has experienced drops in ridership," he said. "For about the last year and a half, there were reductions month after month."
But Clark, who is also the president of the PVA's executive committee, said they have seen some positive signs lately. "We're not falling off the cliff anymore," he said, "and we've been able to avoid letting any of our full-time people go."
NEW BOATS
The weak economy hasn't put everything on hold. The successful partnership of Nichols Brothers Boat Builders and Kvichak Marine Industries has over the past year delivered one 199-passenger and two 149-passenger ferries to the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority. A second 199-passenger ferry is due to be delivered in April.
All four of the catamaran ferries - the Gemini , Pisces , Scorpio , and Taurus - were designed by Australia's Incat Crowther .
"The three boats we have so far are performing as the vendors predicted," said Keith Stahnke, WETA's operations manager.
All of the ferries boast 1,820 hp courtesy of twin MTU 16V2000M70 Tier 2 diesels that power the boats across the water at a cruising speed of 25 knots. Operating in California, state-of-the-art emission reduction technology was a must for these boats. Engine, Fuel and Emission Engineering Inc., Rancho Cordova, Calif., fitted each vessel with an SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) system to handle those concerns.
"We did some follow up testing in August after one of the vessels had 500 hours on it," said Stahnke. "Again, it performed as the vendors predicted."
There has been some delays, however. The new south San Francisco ferry terminal where two of the new ferries will operate out of has been plagued by delays. Stahnke said there are a number of reasons for the delays, not the least of which is funding. WETA gets its money from a percentage of the tolls collected on the bridges over San Francisco Bay. "Fewer people are working and fewer people are going over the bridges," he said. "In addition, ridership is down on every ferry route."
A few years ago, Hawaii Superferry had two 350', 44,000-hp aluminum catamarans built at Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., to run between the islands in Hawaii. The vessels can carry up to 866 passengers and 282 compact cars or 90 cars and 20 large trucks.
Only one of the ferries, the Alakai, ever made it to Hawaii. On the ferry's maiden voyage to Kauai, protesters blocked the entrance to Nawiliwili Harbor. Things went downhill from there.
In 2008, the boat went in to drydock to make repairs to its auxiliary rudders. While there, a tug moving the ferry lost power, resulting in damage to the ferry's hull and requiring an extended drydock stay.
In March 2009, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that the legislation permitting the Alakai to run the islands without an environmental review was unconstitutional. The decision sealed Hawaii Superferry's fate.
"There appears to be no short-term solution to this ruling," Tom Fargo, Hawaii Superferry's president, said at a press conference following the Alakai 's final run. The two ferries are now the property of the Maritime Administration.
At the other end of the spectrum, BC Ferries has rebounded following the disastrous introduction of its PacifiCats fleet in 1999. The three ferries, one of which never entered service, were sold for pennies on the dollar in 2003.
That same year, BC Ferries underwent a transformation from a "crown corporation" into an independently operated company.
The company, British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. (it is still known as BC Ferries), invested CA$1.4 billion in refurbished terminals and seven new vessels.
Four new boats have been built by Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) in Germany. Three of the new Super-C-class double-enders - two 1,650 passenger- and 370-vehicle ferries and one 600-passenger and 130-vehicle ferry - were delivered ahead of schedule and under budget.
BC Ferries also repowered a number of its smaller boats and replaced a generation of older, inefficient engines with modern electronic ones.
NEWBUILDS
Some of the ferries built, under construction, or recently contracted for over the past 12 months include:
• Conrad Industries Inc., Morgan City, La., is building the John W. Johnston, a 264', 500-passenger, 70-vehicle ferry for the Texas Department of Transportation. Conrad has also signed a contract to build a 220-foot, 300-passenger, 50-vehicle ferry for the North Carolina Department of Transportation. The $13 million ferry will operate between Cedar Island and Ocracoke Island.
• Modutech Marine , Tacoma, Wash., is nearing completion of a five-boat contract for the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. The fiberglass ferries measure 80' × 23' and can carry 140 passengers each. The boats are powered by pairs of Cummins QSB5.9-230 HDs and burn 100 percent biodiesel fuel (B100)
• All American Marine , Bellingham, Wash., is building a 77', 118-passenger hydrofoil-supported, quad-jet ferry for Kitsap County. Designed by Teknicraft Design Ltd., New Zealand, the new ferry SSRq s route will take it through Rich Passage. The $5.3 million composite-aluminum boat will be the first passenger-only ferry to operate in Rich Passage since Washington State Ferries halted its passenger only service in 2003.
• Blount Boats delivered the 101' × 39', 149-passenger, 18-vehicle ferry Southside to South Ferry. The double-ended ferry, designed by DeJong & Lebet , Jacksonville, Fla., is powered by twin 400-hp MTU Series 60 diesels, one in each end. The engines are connected to 4-bladed Rolls-Royce wheels through Twin Disc MG-516 marine gears with 4.5:1 reduction ratios. Blount also delivered the 85' × 20' Fire Island Belle to Fire Island Ferries , Bay Shore, N.Y., in June.
• Although it's technically a refurbishment rather than a newbuild, the Hornblower Hybrid is certainly worth mentioning. The vessel, owned by Hornblower Cruises & Events and operated by Alcatraz Cruises went into service last year. The 64' × 30' × 5'8" aluminum catamaran has received a lot of attention for a number of reasons, particularly its multiheaded power source. The propulsion system is made up of twin Series 60 MTU Tier 2 diesels stoking two Marathon 320-kw generators that power two Yoskawa variable frequency drives that power two 400-hp electric motors. The system also includes a 1.2-kw solar array panel, two 1.2-kw 10' tall wind turbines, and a 380-volt DC battery bank.