NYC tests freight by water with a 55-year-old boat carrying Bronx produce to Manhattan
A former Long Island Sound ferry moved 800 pounds of produce down the East River, an early test for the city's plan to take freight off trucks and put it on the water.
A 55-year-old former Long Island Sound ferry picked up 800 pounds of produce at a Bronx dock Wednesday and carried it down the East River to Manhattan, a small early trial for New York City’s push to shift freight from trucks to the water.
U.S. Coastal Service operates the vessel, which spent its earlier life taking passengers and cars across Long Island Sound. On Wednesday the cargo was modest: one pallet holding eggplants, cucumbers, bell peppers, bananas and squash, which the crew lowered into a refrigerated box on deck measuring 20 feet. The boat has never swapped out its original diesel engines, and its radar is old.
How the Hunts Point to Manhattan delivery worked
After weaving past small fishing boats on the East River, the crew had a 35-minute slot at the East 34th Street docks. There the pallet moved onto electric cargo bikes, which made the final delivery.
Company president Ilana Mayid-Dennis said the goal is to link the service to a planned site where containers of imported produce come through New York Harbor and up to Hunts Point, then get moved onto vessels and sent across the city by water. She also pointed out the vacant waterfront spot that held the city’s notorious prison barge for decades. The barge was removed last year, and officials now plan a large marine freight terminal on that site. In the future Mayid-Dennis has in mind, freight hubs would line the city’s shores while dozens of battery-powered cargo boats move goods across the water.
What NYC’s blue highways freight program aims to do
The city Economic Development Corporation has spent two years on its “blue highways” effort, which is meant to cut air pollution and traffic by swapping thousands of truck trips for shipping by water. The agency is now asking for proposals for a barge link between Red Hook in Brooklyn and Hunts Point Market in the Bronx. It wants at least one trip a day, with room for 100 or more containers each time, and the service could start by 2030.
Mayid-Dennis said fewer diesel trucks would ease the burden on South Bronx residents, whose communities she said face the highest rates of asthma, air pollution and road wear. “The concept of marine freight is not new,” she said. “It’s a matter of reclaiming the waterfront.”
Quick answers
What is NYC's blue highways program?
It is a city Economic Development Corporation effort to move freight off trucks and onto boats and barges, with the goal of less traffic and cleaner air.
When could the Red Hook to Hunts Point barge start?
The city says the barge service could begin by 2030. It would run at least once a day with room for at least 100 containers per trip.
