Save the Date: 2026 Conference

Ferry Safety and Technology Conference, May 5-7, 2026

On the waterfront in New York City: Conference, workshops, networking receptions & live music

Location:

Waterfront Museum, Red Hook, Brooklyn

Topics:

Excellent Electric Vessels and their Infrastructure:

• Battery-run electric vehicles on board: Safety considerations
• Worsening weather and what to do
• International Ideas and Opportunities:
• Nigeria – New fleet of electric ferries in Lagos
• Philippines – Expansion intraurban Manila ferry route
• Bangladesh – New interurban ferry
• India – Kolkata expansion, including waterborne Amazon package delivery

Confirmed Speakers:

• Captain John Garvey, COO Staten Island Ferry 
  
• Buckley McAllister, CEO McAllister Towing including  Bridgeport - Port Jefferson Ferry
• Elias Van Sickle, CEO, SWITCH, Hydrogen fuel cell ferries coming to NYC
• Yasuyoshi Tarao, NK Japan, Safe Carriage BEV on Ferries Report
• Ed Schwarz, Siemens Marine Energy Solutions
• Dr. Joe Sienkiewicz, Meteorologist and Oceanographer
• Alan Warren, NY Waterway — The Blue Highway
• Ilana Mayid-Dennis, US Coastal
• Matt Periconne, Sixth Borough

LIVE MUSIC! New Yeller, an Indie Rock Band

Sponsorship opportunities available: Contact Roberta Weisbrod, ferrysafety -at- gmail.com.

Safe Affordable Ferry Design Competition, 2024

11th Annual International Student Design Competition

The goal of the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association is to reduce ferry fatalities. The objective of the International Student Design competition is to reduce ferry fatalities by designing safe affordable vessels.

For the past ten years, awards of $10,000 annually have been made to student teams, with the top prize each year being $5000. An impressive roster of internationally recognized maritime professionals act as judges. Awardees have been recognized at international maritime conferences and through media reports.

In the preceding years' competitions, teams were asked to design:

• a passenger ferry for the Bangladesh river system
• an inter-island RoPax for Papua New Guinea
• an inter-island RoPax for Indonesia
• a passenger ferry for Bangkok
• a passenger ferry for the Singapore Straits between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore
• a passenger ferry for the Pasig River of Manila
• a RoPax for the Winam Gulf region of Lake Victoria in Kenya
• a RoPax for the Amazon River in Brazil
• a RoPax for the Brahmaputra River in Assam, India
• an electric ferry for the Pasig River of Manila.

The 2023-2024 Design Competition for a Safe Affordable Ferry was focused on designing a RoPax ferry for the Niger River in Nigeria.

For questions, contact Dr. Roberta Weisbrod, executive director of the World wide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA), at ferrysafety -@- gmail.com.