The city has continued sailing one of its new Staten Island Ferries even after a mysterious fire damaged its sister ship, ignoring calls from deckhands and lawmakers to ground the vessels until “significant” safety concerns can be addressed.
The Michael H. Ollis ferry, one of three state-of-the-art 4,500-passenger ships that cost city taxpayers over $300 million, has remained running despite lingering questions about what started the blaze aboard the Sandy Ground ferry on Dec. 22, forcing more than 800 passengers to evacuate.
Calls have mounted for all three Ollis-class ferries — which also includes the Dorothy Day, which has yet to begin service — to remain docked until it is clear what went wrong.
Some of Sandy Ground’s issues appear to be “design flaws” that allowed the ship’s fuel line to pressurize and begin spewing fuel onto the engine, insiders said.
“It failed in a place where it’s not supposed to fail,” Roland Rexha, secretary treasurer at Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association, the union that represents the ferry system’s captains, mates and engineers, told The Post.
To make matters worse, an emergency generator on the ship turned on when the blaze broke out, but malfunctioned and shut back off less than a minute later, Rexha said.
Rexha commended members of his union who sprang into action, but added that the situation could have been much more serious.
“We only had close to 1,000 passengers on that vessel,” Rexha said of the Christmas week crossing. “At a normal trip at that time we would have had 3,000 or 4,000 passengers on that vessel … It’s a scary thought.”
Rexha sent a letter to the city Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez following the fire urging the agency to immediately dock all of the Ollis-class vessels. It never received a response.
“DOT has been completely silent on the fire almost like they want it to go away like it never happened,” Rexha said.
The union was joined by Staten Island Councilman Joseph Borelli, who agreed with the call to mothball the Ollis fleet.
“A significant catastrophe was averted only by the swift work of the crew,” Borelli said. “As such, we have significant concerns about the cause of the fire, potential problems with backup generation systems, and training and safety plans. We want to be sure of the safety on the entire class of vessels.”
A DOT spokesperson said that the agency has “no reason to believe other Ollis Ferries will be impacted” after the fire and that the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
“The safety of all passengers and crew members is our top priority,” DOT Spokesperson Tomas Garita said in a statement. “We look forward to reviewing the (union’s) letter as we continue to follow all protocols working closely with the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board on the investigation.”
