New York Cruise Lines and Green City Ferries AB (GCF) have teamed up to launch the first high-speed zero-emissions electric ferry to the New York Harbor in spring 2024. The vessel would operate under the yellow-and-black branding of New York Cruise Lines’ subsidiary New York Water Taxi on the Hudson River between Brooklyn and Manhattan.
The “Beluga24,” which is planned for introduction in New York City has a capacity of 147 passengers and 28 bicycles and has a carbon-fiber construction with a rugged, foil-assisted Teknicraft design that results with a low-wake signature in high speed. The above-water layout sporrts an Italian design by Sculli. Other features include a BAE Systems driveline, Echandia power management, Toshiba batteries and Hamilton high-speed water jets. These features allow for optimized uptime, reduced maintenance costs and elimination of fossil fuels, and lead to lower operating costs than diesel vessels.
The collaboration with New York Cruise Lines and New York Water Taxi would be GCF’s first customer in the United States, but not the first commercial deployment of the Beluga24, which is currently scheduled to enter service in Stockholm, Sweden in early 2023. The partnership will result in the first high-speed zero-emissions electric ferry manufactured in the United States, fostering domestic job opportunities and economic growth in the shipbuilding industry.
The advantages of this high-speed, zero-emissions electric ferry are suited to the transportation service that New York Water Taxi operates for NYU Langone Health, running all day long between Manhattan’s East Side and Sunset Park in Brooklyn.
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