The U.S. Coast Guard recently announced that allowed most of the New York Waterway ferries to return back to service, after being suspended for a series of safety concerns. Specifically all except five of the 23 vessels will operate again with the Coast Guard’s permission.
About a month ago, the USCG authorities has put under investigation the 23 ferries and suspended their operations, since they considered that were operationally unfit. Moreover, the USCG’s inspectors found that the ferries had damage or discrepancies significant enough to warrant a suspension of service.
Most of the issues were in the fire safety and emergency system. After the vessels’ examine, the Coast Guard along with New York Waterway worked to resolve the issues, getting the green light to come back to service.
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Furthermore, in order to make sure that the New York Waterway fleet is following all the safety standards, the Coast Guard announced that will increase the scheduled and unannounced inspections.
We know many people rely on these ferries for their daily commutes, and we will continue to work with New York Waterway to ensure sustained compliance with Coast Guard safety requirements. As part of this effort, we will be increasing both scheduled and unannounced inspections of their fleet moving forward.
… said Capt. Jason Tama, commander of Coast Guard Sector New York.
Concluding, the New York’s Coast Guard sector, oversees about 200 ferries operating in the greater New York City area, while the region’s multiple ferry systems holds about ten of millions passengers per year, meaning is one of the busiest ferry networks globally.