Glosten to design first pilot boats meeting tough new CARB requirements

The San Francisco Bar Pilots have engaged naval architecture and marine engineering firm Glosten to design new station boats that will meet the new California Air Resources Board (CARB) harbor craft emission requirements.

The CARB regulations limit emissions below what is required by EPA for Tier 4 and must be met for any vessel considered a harbor craft by CARB operating in California harbor and coastal waters. They were adopted despite industry objections from a number of organizations, including AWO.

“We are pleased to work with Glosten to design our new cutting-edge station boats,” said John Carlier, president of the San Francisco Bar Pilots. “These new vessels will allow the Bar Pilots to continue to provide safe navigation throughout the San Francisco Bay and further our mission of environmental stewardship.”

Glosten worked with San Francisco Bar Pilots in 2007, providing engineering support and construction oversight of the third San Francisco class 104-foot pilot station boat, Drake.

Glosten’s support of the new station boats includes a propulsion feasibility study, which is currently underway, and a contract design package.

“We are thrilled to be working with a long-standing client who shares our commitment to marine decarbonization,” said Morgan Fanberg, president of Glosten.

San Francisco Bar Pilots is slated to be the first pilot association in California to acquire vessels that will meet CARB’s Commercial Harbor Craft Regulation. The first two station boats are expected to be in service by the end of 2024, with the third in service by the end of 2025.