Horizon to build five more Citywide ferries

Citywide ferries under production at Horizon's Bayou La Batre shipyard

JANUARY 31, 2017 — Hornblower subsidiary HNY Ferry Fleet, LLC has awarded Horizon Shipbuilding, Inc., Bayou La Batre, AL, contracts for five additional ferries for New York City’s new Citywide ferry service. Two of the five will be delivered in 2017 with the remaining three scheduled for delivery in 2018.

Designed by Incat Crowther, the all-aluminum River class design ferries will achieve a speed of 25 knots and have an overall length of 85 ft 4 in and a 26 ft 3 in beam.

The new award brings the total number of ferries Horizon is building for the Citywide service to thirteen. Another six boats are being built by Metal Shark in Jeanerette, LA .

Horizon curremtly has ten hulls under production for the service and the vessels are currently on schedule, with the first boat slated to be delivered in the spring of this year.

“We are very pleased that Hornblower selected Horizon to continue the assembly line our team has been able to put into operation,” said Travis R. Short, President of Horizon Shipbuilding. “One of the premises of our company is to always maintain a positive rapport with our customers and I am thankful that Hornblower has once again placed its trust in us.”

One of the primary reasons that the Citywide Ferries project remains on schedule, says Horizon, is its award-winning Gordhead management software, which allows the shipyard and its clients to remain closely connected throughout the vessel building process.

“Transparency is the key and that’s what Gordhead provides,” says Lance Lemcool, Horizon’s Business Development Manager. “Through transparency, communication, accountability and information sharing issues are nearly nonexistent.”