The Trust For Governors Island Debuts New Hybrid Electric Ferry: The Harbor Charger

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island unveiled today its new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry, the Har­bor Charg­er, the first of its kind in New York State and a wel­come addi­tion to the Trust’s exist­ing fer­ry fleet. The arrival of the new boat coin­cides with the 20-year anniver­sary of Gov­er­nors Island open­ing to the pub­lic, as well as major recent progress in its devel­op­ment as a lead­ing des­ti­na­tion for cli­mate research and edu­ca­tion?—?mark­ing a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone in its transformation. 

The Har­bor Charg­er was named fol­low­ing a city­wide nam­ing com­pe­ti­tion that drew more than 800 sub­mis­sions from nau­ticalophiles across the five bor­oughs. The win­ning name was sub­mit­ted by David Kurnov of Brook­lyn. The $33 mil­lion craft is the first hybrid-elec­tric pub­lic fer­ry in New York State, mark­ing a his­toric moment for Gov­er­nors Island and sus­tain­able mar­itime trans­porta­tion in New York State. The Har­bor Charg­er has the abil­i­ty to trav­el at speeds up to 66 per­cent faster than cur­rent fer­ries, paving the way for pas­sen­gers to reach Gov­er­nors Island even quick­er than before. 

“Twen­ty years ago, Gov­er­nors Island opened to the pub­lic for the first time, cre­at­ing a green, clean, sus­tain­able space for New York­ers to enjoy. Today, we are dou­bling down on that lega­cy with the launch of this first-of-its-kind elec­tric fer­ry,” said New York City May­or Eric Adams. ?“From the hik­ers who will vis­it the Island’s trails to the sci­en­tists who will work at its world-class Cli­mate Exchange, the Har­bor Charg­er will car­ry New York­ers and vis­i­tors alike into the future and deliv­er a safer, health­i­er city for all. Con­grat­u­la­tions to the Trust and the crew on this maid­en voyage!”

“With the Har­bor Charg­er, we are not just launch­ing a new fer­ry?—?we are chart­ing a course toward a clean­er, more sus­tain­able future for New York City,” said Deputy May­or for Hous­ing, Work­force and Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Adol­fo Car­rión. ?“Thanks to the City’s cap­i­tal invest­ment, this state-of-the-art ves­sel will cut hun­dreds of tons of emis­sions each year while bring­ing vis­i­tors to Gov­er­nors Island faster and more effi­cient­ly than ever. It is a mile­stone in our mar­itime his­to­ry and a major step toward build­ing more sus­tain­able and inno­v­a­tive waterways.”

“The Har­bor Charg­er join­ing our fleet of pas­sen­ger fer­ries is a momen­tous day for the Trust and for the thou­sands of vis­i­tors who enjoy what Gov­er­nors Island has to offer every sin­gle day,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ?“We are excit­ed to pro­vide a clean­er, green­er mode of trans­porta­tion to the Island for the near­ly one mil­lion indi­vid­u­als that trav­el here each year. The Har­bor Charg­er will car­ry pas­sen­gers smooth­ly across the har­bor, wel­com­ing repeat vis­i­tors and first timers from around the world.” 

“The hybrid-elec­tric Har­bor Charg­er is a mod­el for clean­er and green­er trans­porta­tion in New York City and across the coun­try,” said Ali­cia Glen, Chair of the Board of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ?“The Har­bor Charg­er will serve Gov­er­nors Island’s vis­i­tors and grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of mis­sion-dri­ven ten­ants and part­ners for decades to come, all while reduc­ing emis­sions in the har­bor. I am proud to have been part the Trust’s efforts in deliv­er­ing trans­for­ma­tive invest­ments like the Har­bor Charg­er in order to real­ize Gov­er­nors Island’s full potential.”

“Gov­er­nors Island’s new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry is exact­ly the type of game-chang­ing trans­porta­tion we need to con­tin­ue dri­ving down emis­sions in New York.” said Gov­er­nor Kathy Hochul. ?“I encour­age New York­ers and vis­i­tors alike to take advan­tage of this clean­er, green­er option to explore our beloved Gov­er­nors Island.”

“The Har­bor Charg­er is more than just a fer­ry. It’s a mod­el for sus­tain­able infra­struc­ture that con­nects our com­mu­ni­ties while cut­ting car­bon emis­sions and cre­at­ing 21^st-cen­tu­ry jobs,” said Con­gress­man Dan Gold­man. ?“Gov­er­nors Island is lead­ing the way toward a green­er, more resilient future for New York City, and I’m proud to have helped secure $7.5 mil­lion in fed­er­al fund­ing for the project. I com­mend the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island for their bold vision, and I look for­ward to see­ing this remark­able ves­sel serve New York­ers for gen­er­a­tions to come.”

“All hands on deck, the Har­bor Charg­er is final­ly here!” said U.S. Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Charles Schumer. ?“When I helped write and pass the Bipar­ti­san Infra­struc­ture Law and the Infla­tion Reduc­tion Act, this sort of new, clean-ener­gy trans­porta­tion was exact­ly what I had in mind. That’s why I was so proud to deliv­er $7.5 mil­lion to help fund elec­tric charg­ing infra­struc­ture that will sup­port the Har­bor Charg­er as it fer­ries count­less New York­ers and tourists to and from Gov­er­nors Island, one of the crown jew­els of New York’s pub­lic park space. Not only is the Har­bor Charg­er faster and clean­er than the dirty diesel fer­ry it’s replac­ing, it will also help advance the mis­sion of the Gov­er­nors Island Cli­mate Exchange, an unprece­dent­ed invest­ment in a job-cre­at­ing, clean­er-ener­gy future for New York City. Anchors aweigh!” 

“Invest­ing in our pub­lic trans­porta­tion infra­struc­ture is crit­i­cal to boost­ing our econ­o­my and expand­ing New York­ers’ access to research and edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties,” said U.S. Sen­a­tor Kirsten Gilli­brand.?“I was proud to help secure a $7.5 mil­lion grant through the Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion to sup­port shore­side rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture for the Har­bor Charg­er, and I remain com­mit­ted to fight­ing for more fed­er­al resources to improve the effi­cien­cy and sus­tain­abil­i­ty of New York City’s ferries.”

“20 years ago, Gov­er­nors Island opened to the pub­lic, and now it’s mak­ing his­to­ry again by intro­duc­ing the state’s first hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry. As Gov­er­nors Island attracts increas­ing­ly more vis­i­tors, their jour­neys will be faster and green­er thanks to the Har­bor Charg­er,” said Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Mark Levine. ?“The Har­bor Charg­er is the most recent exam­ple of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s long­stand­ing and extra­or­di­nary lead­er­ship in cli­mate innovation.”

“I am excit­ed to cel­e­brate the Har­bor Charg­er as the newest addi­tion to the Gov­er­nors Island fer­ry fleet. As we look for inno­v­a­tive ways to revi­tal­ize the invalu­able resource that is New York City’s har­bor, this ves­sel rep­re­sents our shared goals of sus­tain­able design and acces­si­bil­i­ty of our water­ways,” said Coun­cil Mem­ber Christo­pher Marte. ?“This is an excit­ing step for Gov­er­nors Island and our City, and just anoth­er way to invest in and pre­serve Gov­er­nors Island as a unique pub­lic green space for future generations.”

“As we con­tin­ue to reimag­ine Gov­er­nors Island as a place for learn­ing, com­mu­ni­ty, and cli­mate action, access becomes more impor­tant than ever. The Har­bor Charg­er deliv­ers on that need with tech­nol­o­gy that not only improves the jour­ney, but also reflects our shared respon­si­bil­i­ty to reduce emis­sions and build a more sus­tain­able city,” said Assem­bly­man Charles D. Fall.

“Home to The New York Cli­mate Exchange, Gov­er­nors Island is already shap­ing into a hub for world-class cli­mate inno­va­tion, and reduc­ing emis­sions with a new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry will sig­nif­i­cant­ly advance the Island’s sus­tain­abil­i­ty work,” said New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (NYCEDC) Pres­i­dent & CEO Andrew Kim­ball. ?“NYCEDC knows that New York­ers love their fer­ries, and the unveil­ing of the Har­bor Charg­er marks a mon­u­men­tal mile­stone in cre­at­ing a clean­er, more sus­tain­able har­bor for future gen­er­a­tions to come.”

“Equipped with our hybrid propul­sion sys­tem, bat­tery stor­age and real-time con­trol plat­form, this ves­sel will be reli­able, high­ly effi­cient and pro­duce sig­nif­i­cant­ly few­er emis­sions. And we have laid the foun­da­tion for ful­ly elec­tric oper­a­tion in the future. The com­bi­na­tion of these inno­va­tions will make for a clean­er, smoother ride and, hope­ful­ly, a won­der­ful vis­it to Gov­er­nors Island,” said Rich Voor­berg, Pres­i­dent of Siemens Ener­gy for North America.

“We are proud to con­tin­ue our sup­port of The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island in their pur­suit of clean­er marine trans­porta­tion in New York Har­bor. EBDG’s team of marine engi­neers and design­ers pro­vid­ed con­tract design and then act­ed as own­er’s rep­re­sen­ta­tive through­out con­struc­tion of the new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry, the Har­bor Charg­er. This ves­sel is a tes­ta­ment to the pow­er of col­lab­o­ra­tion?—?between the Trust, Con­rad Ship­yard, Siemens Ener­gy and a ded­i­cat­ed group of indus­try part­ners. Togeth­er, we’ve helped bring a sus­tain­able and beau­ti­ful­ly designed fer­ry to life,” said David Turn­er, Project Man­ag­er, Elliott Bay Design Group.

“Con­rad Ship­yard is deeply hon­ored to have part­nered with the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island to build and deliv­er the Har­bor Charg­er to the peo­ple of New York City. This fer­ry is a vital link con­nect­ing New York­ers to one of their most trea­sured pub­lic spaces. At Con­rad Ship­yard, we under­stand the respon­si­bil­i­ty that comes with build­ing infra­struc­ture that serves the pub­lic, and we approached this project with the same com­mit­ment to safe­ty, qual­i­ty, and integri­ty that has defined our com­pa­ny for decades. Work­ing with the Trust has been excep­tion­al. Their vision for reli­able, safe trans­porta­tion to Gov­er­nors Island aligns per­fect­ly with our val­ues of deliv­er­ing ves­sels that oper­a­tors can depend on day after day, sea­son after sea­son. We’re proud to sup­port New York City’s mar­itime infra­struc­ture and look for­ward to see­ing the Har­bor Charg­er serve the com­mu­ni­ty for many years to come,” said John­ny Con­rad, Exec­u­tive Chair­man of Con­rad Shipyard.

The Har­bor Charg­er trav­eled up the East­ern Seaboard from Louisiana, where it was built at the Con­rad Ship­yard in Mor­gan City over the course of two weeks this spring. The fer­ry has a capac­i­ty of up to 1,200pas­sen­gers and 30 vehi­cles for Island deliv­er­ies and ser­vices and boasts an increased cruis­ing speed of 10?–?12 knots. It will replace the diesel-pow­ered Lt. Samuel S. Coursen?—?the Trust’s cur­rent vehi­cle and pas­sen­ger fer­ry that was com­mis­sioned by the U.S. Army in 1956 and has been in con­tin­u­ous use ever since. Lat­er this year, the Lt. Samuel S. Coursen will retire from service. 

The Har­bor Charg­er is equipped with Siemens Energy’s BlueDrive Eco diesel-elec­tric propul­sion sys­tem, their Blue­Vault advanced bat­tery-based solu­tion, and Eco­MAIN?—?a tech­nol­o­gy plat­form that enables the oper­a­tor to con­stant­ly mon­i­tor this state-of-the-art equip­ment. The hybrid propul­sion sys­tem reduces air pol­lu­tion by allow­ing the boat’s sys­tems to tog­gle between three modes: zero-emis­sions, bat­tery-only pow­er, and bat­tery assist­ed hybrid with diesel back­up. The bat­tery-assist­ed hybrid mode will reduce car­bon diox­ide emis­sions by near­ly 600 tons annu­al­ly, allow­ing the Trust to make ground­break­ing progress on its net-zero emis­sions goals. 

Once shore­side charg­ing facil­i­ties are installed, which are cur­rent­ly in the design phase, the ves­sel will reduce emis­sions by an addi­tion­al 800 tons annu­al­ly. Thanks to sup­port from Sen­a­tor Schumer, Sen­a­tor Gilli­brand, and Con­gress­man Gold­man, the Trust secured $7.5 mil­lion in fed­er­al infra­struc­ture fund­ing from the US Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion to sup­port the shore­side rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture, enabling the Har­bor Charg­er to reach ful­ly elec­tric oper­a­tions once installed. The rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture is cur­rent­ly in design.

The Har­bor Charg­er was designed by Elliot Bay Design Group (EBDG) and required more than 465 tons of steel, rough­ly equiv­a­lent to 11 sub­way cars, to con­struct. The vessel’s enhanced maneu­ver­ing capa­bil­i­ties uti­lize Schot­tel azimuthing thrusters fea­tur­ing 360-degree steer­ing. The boat also fea­tures mod­ern ameni­ties, a low­er-lev­el ADA-acces­si­ble lounge, and restrooms on each lev­el. This is the sec­ond fer­ry boat EBDGhas designed for the Trust?—?the pas­sen­ger-only GOV­ER­NORS 1, built by Blount Boats, went into ser­vice in 2019. 

Over the past two decades, the Island has grown tremen­dous­ly as a glob­al resource for cli­mate inno­va­tion, offer­ing wide­spread oppor­tu­ni­ties for research and pilot­ing; pub­lic art­works engag­ing with cli­mate issues; and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants focused on cli­mate?—?includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, Wind Sup­port NYC, and the soon-to-open But­ter­milk Labs, among oth­ers. In April 2023, The New York Cli­mate Exchange was select­ed as the anchor research and edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tion to cre­ate an inno­va­tion dis­trict on Gov­er­nors Island to accel­er­ate equi­table cli­mate solu­tions for cities. The Exchange, led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and a con­sor­tium of part­ners, is devel­op­ing a 400,ooo SF cam­pus on the Island focused on advanc­ing cli­mate solu­tions and prepar­ing New York­ers for green jobs. Con­struc­tion is expect­ed to begin in 2026. 

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