Page 79: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 1999)

\ First Time for Everything

Transit Company Meets

Challenge with Natural Gas •ed Ferry •owen

Tidewater Regional Transit (TRT), forfolk, Va., operates mass transit in the lampton Roads area. It includes three lassenger ferries that transport nearly 100,000 people per year across the Eliz- ibeth River between downtown Norfolk md Portsmouth, Va. Like other mass ransit providers, TRT receives federal, ;tate and local funds and is encouraged o use alternative fuels to reduce depen- lence on foreign oil and help improve he environment. But unlike any other ransit authority, TRT is successfully operating the world's first passenger ferry powered exclusively by natural gas.

Sparking interest

The idea to convert one of TRT's diesel-powered ferries to natural gas resulted from a 1989 meeting with rep- resentatives of Virginia Natural Gas to discuss bus fuel conversion. A feasibili- ty study identified potential investors and possible funding sources. As part of the study, TRT's local Cat dealer, Carter

Machinery Co., conducted Performance

Analysis Review tests and additional analyses on the vessel's two six-cylin- der, two-cycle, 180 bhp (135 bkW) diesels. Information collected on fuel consumption and other operating para- meters helped establish the attainable benefits of switching to natural gas power. Carter also collected data on

Caterpillar's experience with other marine natural gas applications, includ- ing a dual-fuel (diesel and natural gas)

Canadian car ferry. One benefit of nat- ural gas engines is that they typically have longer life-to-overhaul intervals compared to similarly sized diesels.

TRT determined that converting a ferry to natural gas fuel would lessen its dependence on imported fuel and con- tribute to a cleaner environment. Rec- ognized as a first for the marine indus- try, TRT's compressed natural gas (CNG)-fueled ferry required new Coast

Guard regulations for CNG fuel. "Safe- ty comes first," says Mark Haushalter,

TRT equipment maintenance supervi- sor, "everything else is secondary."

The Coast Guard agreed with that phi- losophy and developed installation, monitoring and training requirements for the vessel. Working with TRT and a naval architect from JJH Inc.,

Portsmouth, Va., installation specifica- tions were established for the storage,

September, 1999 transfer and safe use of CNG fuel in the marine environment. New system designs and regulations were also need- ed for the shore-side CNG fueling facil- ity as well as for the vessel.

James C. Echols, operated by Tidewater Regional Tran- sit, Norfolk, Va., is the world's first passenger ferry powered exclusively by nat- ural gas.

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