During rush hour in New York, it's hard to skip a stone on the Hudson River without hitting a passing NY Waterway ferry. That's because the Weehawken, N.J.,-based operator has done an incredible job in ratcheting up its service since the 9/11 terrorist attacks disrupted train service to Lower Manhattan. NY Waterway now owns 33 ferries and charters 13 additional boats. Average daily ridership increased from 34,000 passenger trips per day before 9/11 to 65,000 passenger trips after.

This expansion, however, has not come without some bumps in the road—complaints from marina owners about wake wash from increased ferry service.

NY Waterway is addressing this issue by adding new purpose-built, low-wake wash Sea Otter Class ferries to its fleet. Built by Allen Marine, Inc., of Sitka, Alaska, the latest of this class is the Enduring Freedom, named in honor of the victims of 9/11. The sixth Sea Otter class ferry in NY Waterway's fleet, the Enduring Freedom carries 97 passengers at more than 30 knots. It is a single hull boat with the bow-loading design, powered by three Caterpillar 3406 electronically controlled diesel engines, generating 600 hp each. The engines drive three Hamilton water jets.

The Enduring Freedom provides service between Queens and points in Midtown and Lower Manhattan.

Other New York metro operators, including Seastreak USA, NY Fast Ferry and the newly created New York Water Taxi are adding new boats and services as well.
Recent developments include:

• An RFP from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey requesting bids from eight operators for a new fast ferry service from the South Shore of Staten Island to Manhattan. Proposals are due Nov. 11 and the service would start in the fall of 2003.
  
• NY Fast Ferry will "aggressively pursue all permits and approvals" to begin a new fast ferry commuter service between Stamford, Conn., to Manhattan, following a Connecticut Superior Court's decision reinstating its lease rights to waterfront property in Stamford.
  

The C.A.T.S. Meow
This time next year, Upstate New York will be home to the Great Lakes first high-speed vehicle-passenger ferry. Australia's Austal Ships has won a contract worth a reported $43 million to build an 86 m, 42-knot vehicle/passenger ferry for Canadian American Transportation Systems (C.A.T.S.), a private venture that will initiate fast ferry service between Rochester, N.Y. and Toronto, Canada, across Lake Ontario, with a voyage time of two hours and 15 minutes.

The ferry will be the first of its type to be fitted with four MTU 20V 8000 M70 engines, each rated at 8,200 kW, making it the most powerful diesel-powered high-speed catamaran in the world. Each engine will drive a steerable waterjet via a ZF gearbox.

Traveling on its on bottom from Australia, the C.A.T.S. ferry is scheduled to arrive in Rochester in late July 2003. It will have a capacity of 774 passengers and 238 cars, or up to 10 trucks and fewer cars. The garage features Austal's highly efficient drive-through vehicle deck design, with hoistable mezzanine decks to allow the carriage of trucks and other overheight vehicles, without sacrificing maximum car capacity.

Although it will be the seventh Auto Express 86 vehicle-passenger catamaran built by Austal Ships, the C.A.T.S. vessel will be different in a number of ways. This includes structural and design changes in accordance with the latest IMO HSC Code 2000 requirements and to allow operation in limited ice conditions.

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