Commuters and Tides game attendees will have two new ferries to ride in 2024.
Elizabeth River Ferries VI and VII were unveiled Friday, several months after Hampton Roads Transit auctioned off the 38-year-old Ferry III.
The new ferries have a lifespan of 25 years, per new Federal Transit Administration regulations.
It usually takes about eighteen months to build a passenger ferry — but ferries VI and VII took a lot longer.
“We actually started this contract when COVID started, so it really put a damper on it,” said Amy Braziel with HRT.
The two new ferries were built by St. Johns Shipbuilding in Palatka, Florida. They’re 60 feet long and weigh around 50 tons. Each can carry up to 149 passengers.
Though the ferries are mostly identical to their predecessors — complete with the iconic paddlewheel — Braziel said inside they have updates, like reconfigured engine rooms and more safety cameras.
Ferries IV and V were brought into the fleet 6 years ago, said Braziel. Ferry V was the boat that collided with the High Street seawall in Portsmouth in January, suspending route service for several hours.
With two new ferries in service, the route will run four total.
“It's going to help us with special events and things like that, where we've got a lot of people that we're moving across the water,” Braziel said.
Seasonal service to Harbor Park starts in March and runs through baseball season — meaning more opportunities to take the ferry.
