New Corvus ESS Ordered for Hornblower Hybrid Ferry

Hornblower's Alcatraz City Cruises has selected Corvus Energy to supply the battery system for the Hornblower Hybrid NY passenger ferry.

San Francisco based Alcatraz City Cruises was the first to introduce hybrid-powered passenger ferry service in the United States. Two vessels, the Alcatraz Flyer and the Alcatraz Clipper, currently offer transit to Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay. Completing multiple rounds per day, the operation carries thousands of passengers daily and nearly 1.7 million total annually powered by electric propulsion. Both vessels use a Corvus Energy battery system.

Following the success of Alcatraz City Cruises’ hybrid vessels, City Experiences introduced the first hybrid passenger ferry service on the East Coast and expanded its hybrid vessel program to other US locations. City Experiences reports the Hornblower Hybrid design “reduced fuel consumption by 75%1” and estimates their hybrid fleet annually saves “over 235,000 gallons [of fuel],” which is “equivalent to taking 450 cars off the road or planting 718 acres of trees” each year.

The Hornblower Hybrid NY, a vessel retrofit project requiring a 1,627KWh battery energy storage system (ESS), will be the third City Experiences vessel in California with a Corvus ESS onboard. Corvus Energy will deliver the system from its newly established, U.S. based manufacturing facility in Bellingham, Wash. Delivery is expected by September 2023.