Posted on August 6, 2021
Eastern Shipbuilding Group is pleased to announce that MV SSG MICHAEL H. OLLIS Staten Island Ferry is certified and passenger ready. MV SSG MICHAEL H. OLLIS Staten Island Ferry is scheduled to depart Eastern Shipbuilding Group’s Port St. Joe Facility on Friday for delivery to New York City. Dann Ocean Towing’s COLONEL will tow the ferry from Port St. Joe, FL to New York City, NY around Florida and up the East Coast. The trip will take approximately 12 days.
The new Staten Island Ollis Class Ferries series are named after fallen soldier of the US Army 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, ‘Climb to Glory’, Army Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis. Ollis, a Staten Island native, was killed shielding fellow soldiers from a suicide bomber in Afghanistan on August 28, 2013 serving during Operation Enduring Freedom. Hull 219, the first of the series, is named in his honor.
The new ferries are larger, reflect modern technology, and will operate more safely in extreme weather conditions. They will feature popular design elements of past Staten Island Ferries, including other customer-service amenities — including more comfortable seating and phone-charging outlets, as well as an oval upper-deck promenade that will for the first time serve as an outdoor “walking track” for ferry riders. They have the latest in marine technology for energy efficiency and environmental friendliness. There are design features on this vessel that are part of the emergency response plan with the city. Lessons from 9/11 were built into this fleet and they can be connected to the fire vessels (which were also built by Eastern Shipbuilding Group) to aide in evacuations and rescue.
