Merrimack Valley officials are planning to launch New England’s first-ever zero emission ferry next year to provide passenger service on the Merrimack River between Haverhill, Amesbury and Newburyport. The small scale project is being eyed by other transit officials as a kind of proof-of-concept that could open the door to wider use of zero-emission boats around the state.
Officials from the Merrimack Valley Transit, also known as MeVa, say they will advertise this month for bids to build two solar-powered ferries, armed with a $4.2 million federal grant.
Noah Berger, administrator for the transit authority that serves more than a dozen cities and towns north of Boston, tells GBH News that the 35-feet-long ferries will have a capacity for 16 passengers each.
“We wanted to venture into zero emissions, but we were not going to be a leader with our bus fleet,” Berger said, saying it is too hard to upgrade to bus battery technology and expand the electric grid. “I am convinced we can do it at a small scale on the boat side.”
Berger says the money for the project has already been set aside, so it should not be affected by Trump administration cuts to other environmental grants.
The zero-emissions ferry project comes as the state’s biggest ferry operators are weighing whether they can also shift parts of their fleet away from diesel fuel.
Thomas M. McGee, board chair of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, told GBH News his organization will be watching the Merrimack project as an important experiment in carbon neutral propulsion. MBTA ferries burn more than a million gallons of diesel fuel per year at a cost of about $6 million, according to records obtained by GBH News.
“What you want to see on a smaller scale [is] how it can work,” said McGee. “And how can we make this work in a bigger way as the technology grows.”
Environmental advocates in Woods Hole and on Martha’s Vineyard also have pushed the Steamship Authority — whose ferries last year consumed 3.3 million gallons of fuel oil — to consider electric or hybrid ferries.
“We are actively examining alternative fuel opportunities for our ferries,” Steamship spokesman Sean Driscoll said in an emailed statement. “But logistical, financial, and technological challenges are infused in nearly every aspect of this work.”
Kyle Murray, who directs state policy at the Acadia Center, an environmental and clean energy advocacy nonprofit based in Boston, welcomed the Merrimack Valley ferry plan, especially if it leads to other lower-emission ferries in the region.
A GBH News investigation, Poisoned Ports, has highlighted rising public health concerns about port communities’ exposure to harmful air pollution from ships burning heavy fuel oil and diesel.
“There are genuinely extremely difficult questions when it comes to certain aspects of decarbonization, particularly with heavy freight,” Murray said. “[But] certain types of things can go all electric with relative ease. Those are ideas we should be really trying to pursue … that can really drive innovation forward.”
MeVA plans to link its bus service with ferry docks in the three riverfront communities, hoping to entice commuters and lure other passengers to try out the ferry recreationally to explore the river and local downtowns.
“[With] transit operators that have ferry boats, the ferries are kind of an afterthought, viewed as completely separate, so you get off the ferry and you’re on your own,’’ Berger said. “What our vision is, this will be directly connected to the rest of our system.”
The ferries are expected to complete a river trip from Haverhill to Newburyport in just over an hour, he said. This trip can take as little as half an hour driving on I-495, but that highway is frequently badly congested.
The Merrimack Valley Planning Council is overseeing a service and business plan study for the ferries, including ridership demands, timing and impacts on transit usage. That report is expected next year ahead of the transit authority launching the ferries.
At a historic wooden boatyard called Lowell’s Boat Shop on the riverfront in Amesbury, Graham McKay says he is thrilled. The director of the nonprofit boatyard says the ferry plan recreates an old steamboat route from Haverhill to the beaches, harkening back to the 1800s. https://www.lowellsboatshop.org/
“My least favorite experience here is when a throaty cigarette boat goes by, burning a gallon a minute,” said McKay, standing in the 160-year-old workshop with big windows facing the Merrimack River. “Having a silent electric boat going by, that’s going to potentially get people on the river who may not otherwise have the opportunity, I think that’s a great thing.”
A half mile upriver from the boatyard, the town of Amesbury is spending $840,000 from a state Seaport Economic Council grant to upgrade the municipal riverfront, building new parking lots, a boat ramp, and upgrading the piers so that the ferry can dock.
Amesbury Mayor Kassandra Gove said she hopes the ferry project will boost local tourism and economic development. A private marina is already building a new restaurant right by the piers that the city is rehabbing.
“We have not had outdoor waterfront dining in Amesbury for as long as I can remember, if ever,” Gove said. “Much of Amesbury’s waterfront is privately owned. We don’t have a lot of public access.”
MeVa also plans to expand its transit bus route to serve the river dock and transport ferry passengers to the center of Amesbury -- about a mile away.
Riding the river ferry will be free at first, said Berger, whose board made history earlier this year by voting to make its bus system permanently fare free. But he acknowledges free fares on the ferry may not be permanent unless there is other government funding to support it. He hopes that ultimately the ferries will simply become a routine part of the regional transit system.
“The goal is to get as many people to ride it as possible,” he said. “I would love to be able to have that seamlessness between the different modes.”
