Nichols Brothers Boat Builders (NBBB), Freeland, Wash., has been awarded a contract by San Francisco Bay Ferry to design and construct two 400-passenger battery-electric ferries under the agency’s Rapid Electric Emission Free (REEF) Ferry Program.
The 142'1"x34'9" Subchapter K aluminum catamarans will operate at 25 knots on central Bay routes, connecting Oakland and Alameda with San Francisco, an NBBB press release said.
The vessels will each feature four independent azimuthing Hydromaster Series E propulsion units with 625-kW drives and a modular, scalable 1,603-kWh Echandia energy storage system. Charging infrastructure will include MCS charging at a total of 5 MW, a DC grid, and DC conversion technology.
The vessels will recharge through custom-designed electric charging floats, which also serve as boarding pathways during passenger loading and unloading.
Incat Crowther will lead vessel design, with electrical engineering support from Ockerman Automation Consulting. Wärtsilä North America will serve as the electrical propulsion system integrator.
NBBB noted in its press release that the shipyard has constructed more than 50 high-speed aluminum catamarans since pioneering the first such vessel in U.S. waters in 1982.
Delivery dates on the builds have not yet been disclosed.
