NY WATERWAY COMMEMORATES 22nd ANNIVERSARY OF THE 9/11 TRAGEDY

On the 22nd Anniversary of 9/11, NY Waterway pays tribute to the fallen and honors their families and loved ones.

“We will always keep close to our hearts those who lost their lives and their survivors,” said NY Waterway CEO Armand Pohan. “Many of us remember the fear, anger and sadness that gripped our country in the aftermath of that day. We must also remember the spirit of unity that ultimately prevailed. That spirit was present from the earliest moments of the tragedy.” 

NY Waterway’s entire fleet, 24 ferries at the time, were the first boats to respond to the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.  Captains and deckhands adhered to the “Code of the Mariner,” to help whenever needed.  They responded with no request or authorization from any government agency.

These ferries were the largest single component of the water-borne evacuation of 500,000 people from Manhattan that day, the largest maritime evacuation in history.
Ferries used the two available slips at the World Trade Center Ferry Terminal.  Because NY Waterway uses bow-loading ferries, they just pushed up to the seawalls in Battery Park City and Battery Park.  People climbed over the seawall railings into the ferries.

The shortest run was directly across the Hudson River to the Colgate Dock, where the large Colgate Clock stands in Jersey City.  Other ferries went to the Hoboken Rail Ferry Terminal, the Erie Lackawanna Terminal. At these sites, emergency personnel were waiting to assist.

Later in the day and into the night, ferries also carried military and law enforcement personnel from New Jersey back to Manhattan.

Fishing boats, tug boats and other craft also joined the effort.  Thousands of people also took Staten Island ferries.