New Emerald class ferry rolled out on Manly to Circular Quay route without fanfare

Transport officials have rolled out the first of three new Manly ferries without fanfare after a campaign to keep the Freshwater class vessels.

The first of three new Emerald class ferries, named after the popular Sydney Harbour beach Fairlight, has been quietly rolled out on the Circular Quay to Manly route without fanfare.

Minister for Transport and Roads Rob Stokes’ office sent out a press release late on Friday announcing that the first of the new ferries was now taking passengers.

It follows protests from residents wanting to keep the iconic Freshwater class ferries on the route full-time and concerns the new Emerald class, built overseas, won’t copy in large swells.

Two of the four Freshwater class ferries will be saved, but will only operate at the weekend.

One of the new Emerald class ferries has started on the Manly to Circular Quay route.

Mr Stokes said in a statement that the new Emerald vessel had met strict safety standards, completing many hours of successful on water testing ahead of its introduction to service.

“The Generation 2 Emerald Class ferries are purpose built to operate in heavy swells, are fully accessible, have significantly reduced carbon emissions and are cheaper to run than our older vessels,” Mr Stokes said.

“The new Emerald Class ferries, along with ten new River Class vessels, were built by Australian shipbuilder Birdon, with all design work undertaken in Australia.

“Throughout the design and build of these ferries there’s been a strong focus on Aussie involvement, with 70 per cent of the total program of work benefiting local suppliers and creating local jobs.”

Manly MP James Griffin said the remaining two Emerald class ferries will be introduced progressively over the coming weeks, and are named after the two other beaches Clontarf and Balmoral.

“The introduction of the new Emerald Class ferries will allow for more weekly services to be added to the busy F1 route and will ensure there’s plenty of capacity to meet demand, particularly over Manly’s busy summer months,” Mr Griffin said.

“More frequent services between Manly and Circular Quay will be a welcome boost for our visitor economy as domestic and international travel resumes this summer.”

Two remaining Freshwater Ferries (MV Freshwater and MV Collaroy) will continue to operate alongside the new Generation 2 Emerald Class ferries on weekends and public holidays.

Retirement plans for the MV Narrabeen are still being finalised.

Transport for NSW will update the community about the farewell plan for this vessel soon.

Previously

On October 27, 2021

Concern following cancellation of Emerald ferries due to swell

Sydney’s ferry operator has responded to concerns that the Manly to Circular Quay service had to be halted on Monday because the Emerald class ferries could not cope with swells of just over 2.5 metres.

Residents discussed the issue on social media after the ferry service was cancelled at 6pm on Monday.

It comes as Transport for NSW plans to roll out the smaller and faster Emerald class ferries full-time on the route on weekdays, despite fears that they won’t be able to deal with large swells as well as the Freshwater class ferries.

A Transdev’s spokesman told the Manly Daily that three new Emerald class ferries that will be joining the route are different from those that were running on Monday.

One of the new Emerald class ferries that will take over the Manly to Circular Quay route.

He said the new ones which will be joining the fleet shortly have a reinforced hull and are able to handle swells of up to 4.5 metres.

“The current Emerald class vessels are capable of handling swell heights up to 2.5 metres,” the spokesman said. “Monday’s swell was slightly above this threshold.

“Regardless of the vessels’ capability to withstand it, ferry services rarely operate during large swells for customer comfort reasons.”

The MV Queenscliff retired earlier this month and the MV Narrabeen will be retired sometime in the next 18 months, despite protests and a petition from local residents.

The other two Freshwater class ferries will be used at the weekends.

Skipper Austin Hart, who was at the helm for the MV Queenscliff’s last journey on October 13, said he still held out hope that all four Freshwater class ferries may still be saved.

“There are many good reasons to keep them,” he said. “I don’t agree entirely they should go.

“There’s not many half-hour trips where you can start off in a duck pond and end up in a four to five metre swell on a fairly regular basis.”

He said the Freshwater class ferries have always performed well in those conditions.

Howard Collins, Chief Operating Officer for Transport for NSW, who also was on the ferry for its last journey, said at the time there had been lots of “rumours and hearsay” over the ability of the new Emerald ferries to handle the swell.

The Freshwater class ferry still operating during a storm.

He said while they are smaller vessels, they had strengthened hulls and slightly different bows from other Emerald ferries on the harbour, so could handle the conditions. He said they are currently undergoing trials on Sydney Harbour and are due to be rolled out in November.

He added that the new ferries will mean increased and faster services for commuters, but that people could still enjoy the romance of the Freshwater class ferries that will continue to run at the weekends.