Patrick Murphy has been President of Blue & Gold Fleet, L.P., the San Francisco Bay Area’s largest and premier provider of Bay Cruises and ferry service, since 2016. Murphy grew up in the Maritime business. His father, Roger Murphy, founded Blue & Gold Fleet in 1979. Patrick Murphy began his career in 1982
The domestic passenger vessel answers the call for cleaner and more efficient platforms. It is truly an electric time to be a part of this niche industry.In the shadow of a rapidly changing political landscape, the domestic passenger ferry sector is nevertheless seeing an increasing number of newbuild vessel orders.
Three shipyards have expressed interest in building a long-awaited series of new hybrid-electric car and passenger vessels for Washington State Ferries (WSF).Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in Freeland, Wash.; Eastern Shipbuilding Group in Panama City, Fla. and Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia have sent pre-qualification packages after WSF earlier this year invited shipbuilders to bid
Washington State Ferries announced it has canceled the sale of two retired vessels after the buyer failed to meet its contractual obligations and left a tugboat crew abandoned in Puget Sound.Sold in August for $100,000 apiece, the decommissioned WSF ferries Elwha and Klahowya had been sold to Nelson Armas, who has gained approval from the U.S.
An oil spill off the Spanish island of Gran Canaria forced local authorities to close several beaches in the popular holiday destination on Thursday and declare an environmental emergency.Emergency services said on social messaging platform X that they were alerted on Wednesday night of the accidental spill during a vessel's refueling stop at La Luz port of Las Palmas, the island's capital.
An engine room fire led to the evacuation of dozens of passengers from a NY Waterway ferry during the busy rush hour commute on Tuesday evening.The 65-foot vessel Father Mychal Judge was transiting along the Hudson River en route from Manhattan to New Jersey when the blaze broke out on board.
San Francisco’s Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA), operator of the San Francisco Bay Ferry system, is moving forward with plans to introduce the United States' first fleet of zero-emission, high-speed, battery electric ferries, this week unveiling design renderings and announcing a battery systems supplier.
The first-of-its-kind hydrogen-fueled ferry Sea Change will soon begin public service, providing zero-emissions transport for passengers in San Francisco Bay.The groundbreaking commercial passenger vessel is the world’s first powered 100% by zero-emission hydrogen fuel cells. It was developed by owner SWITCH Maritime with grant support from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) as a solution
Deliveries will begin in 2028 if all goes well. Delays and escalating costs have bedeviled the procurement process up until now.Washington State Ferries on Thursday published an invitation to bid on building five new hybrid-electric ferries, an overdue achievement that promises to eventually bring more reliability to cross-Sound ferry service.
The United States' first hydrogen-powered ferry, Sea Change, has cleared a key regulatory hurdle, marking a major step on the groundbreaking vessel's long and winding journey toward commercial operations in the San Francisco Bay Area.SWITCH Maritime, the company behind the zero-emissions ferry project, announced it received a Certificate of Inspection (COI) from the U.S.
Norwegian ferry operator Fjord1 has ordered a series of four autonomous zero-emission ferries to operate the Lavik-Oppedal crossing on the northwest coast of Norway.The newbuilds were designed by Norway-based HAV Design and will be built by Tersan Shipyard in Turkey.According to HAV Design, which will deliver ship design and an engineering package for all four vessels
Because there are so many different kinds of passenger vessels, the critical topic of passenger safety can sometimes appear as a set of niche topics, each one just distantly connected to another. After all, passengers aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean face safety issues that are much different than a commuter going from Jersey City to Manhattan or a tourist crossing from the Mukilteo, Wash.