New Workboat to Serve Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty

A new utility/passenger vessel has been delivered and will soon go to work for the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) to serve Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

The all-steel newbuild, designed by New Orleans-based TAI Engineers, LLC, has been named Annie Moore after the first immigrant, a 15-year-old Irish girl, who signed the Ellis Island register.

"TAI has designed and built many boats and ships, but this project is particularly special to me," said Anil Raj, President of TAI. "My very first arrival to the United States was via New York in 1969. While landing at JFK, the Pan American airline pilot tipped the plane wings and announced a view of the Statue of Liberty from the window. He stated that she was welcoming new immigrants to Liberty and Justice for All in the U.S. I feel especially privileged that our company was a part of this project."

One of the duties of the Annie Moore is to transport national and international dignitary guests to the Statue of Liberty. This 74 foot long, 24 foot wide vessel is ready to serve the NPS to transport VIPs, official passengers, supplies and equipment to Ellis Island from Battery Park, New York, N.Y. The vessel has seating for 40 passengers, and a galley on the main deck. A knuckle boom crane is provided for loading/unloading of palletized cargo.

The U.S. Coast Guard Subchapter-T inspected vessel was built jointly by TAI and its subcontractor Aluma Marine at its facilities in Harvey, La. It is designed and built to American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) Rules. The ice belt and the bow structure of the hull are designed to ABS Ice class C0 rules and the vessel includes ice strengthened reduction gears, propulsion shafting, rudders and propellers. The vessel is equipped with twin Caterpillar C18 propulsion engines.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Marine Design Center (MDC) supported NPS by providing project management, engineering and contract management support for the new vessel.