Page 29: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2001)

Ready to Burn: Fast Ferry Market Looks Good

Predicting business trends in the noto- riously fickle marine business is diffi- cult if not impossible. Yet when devel- opments transpire as they have in the fast craft niche of the ferry business, it is difficult to not read the writing on the wall. The business of designing, build- ing, outfitting and operating fast ferries in the United States is set to take off, as increasing pressures from traffic and environmental concerns force more peo- ple to the waterways.

U.S. waterborne passenger transport already is large, according to Tim Kelley of Dalton & Kelley, who gave a presen- tation on the matter at the 17th Fast

Ferry Conference, held March 13-15, 2001 in New Orleans. Currently there are 400 operators carrying more than 205 million passengers and 31 million vehicles annually.

The largest U.S. ferry operator is

Washington State Ferries, with 20 con- ventional speed car/passenger and five all passenger ferries, serving 20 ports and carrying 23 million passengers. The largest U.S. fast ferry operators are

Boston Harbor Cruises with five vessels, and Catalina Channel Express with nine fast ferries (six capable of carrying 149 passengers). Operators in Seattle, San

Francisco, Alameda, Long Beach,

Boston and New York either have already or will acquire additional all- passenger fast ferries in 2001.

The push for speed reaches far beyond the swagger of owning the largest, fastest vessel. Rick Nolan, president of

Boston Harbor Cruises, explained at a recent SOCP meeting held at the Massa- chusetts Maritime Academy that the investment in the company's fast craft fleet helped the company double its business, from 900,000 passengers car- ried to 1.8 million passengers carried per year, in only three years. "We're very happy with the boats and their effects on our operations," Nolan said. Each of the company's smaller (121 ft. (37 m), 400 passenger) vessels are powered by four

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