San Francisco Receives First Zero-Emissions Fuel-Cell-Powered Ferry

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday March 14, 2023

The authorities at San Francisco have received their first zero-emissions ferry powered by fuel cells.

The 75-passenger catamaranĀ Sea ChangeĀ arrived in San Francisco over the weekend, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Monday. The vessel is powered by a fuel cell using hydrogen, and can operate for 16 hours at a time before refuelling from a tank at the harbour.

The ferry will be operated by the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority to take passengers along the city's waterfront from late spring. The authority is planning to phase out all of its conventionally-fuelled ferries in the Bay Area in time.

"We want to prove that this type of technology will work in day-to-day service so that other vessel types and other vessel owners can pick it up," Todd Sterling, an air pollution specialist at the California Air Resources Board, was cited as saying in the report.