Arthur Imperatore would have been proud of the new NY Waterway ferry that bears his name, honoring the founder of the ferry service that sparked development of Hudson County’s other Gold Coast, north of Hoboken.
That vessel was christened on Monday, the second large ferry to enter service this year. The ceremony also served as a time to pay tribute to Imperatore, who died at age 95 on Nov. 19, 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, which barred a traditional memorial service.
The Arthur E. Imperatore is a brand-new, low-emission 2,000-horsepower, Tier 3 standard compliant ferryboat, meaning it emits 75% less emissions than its predecessors. With a 21-knot service speed, the vessel can carry 600 passengers, is 109 feet long and 32 feet wide, and requires just 6 feet of water depth, reducing the need for dredging near piers.
“This is the second of three boats Arthur ordered the building of in 2018. The first done was the Franklin D. Roosevelt in 2020, the last boat he stepped on,” Armand Pohan, NY Waterway CEO and president, said on the upper deck of the new ferry. “He’d be so pleased that we’re all here today to christen this boat.”
He also joked that Imperatore, who was noted for starting each work week with a new idea to pursue, would be “irritated we were spending so much time looking backward instead of ahead.”
But because of the pandemic, this was the first chance to have a public memorial to pay tribute to the creator of the modern commuter ferry, Polan said.
“This is a most appropriate way of remembering him, remembering his achievements,” said Pohan, who is also Imperatore’s stepson. “His work is not complete, it is ongoing, it will always be ongoing.”
The vessel provided a smooth and powerful ride after Monday’s ceremony to the Statue of Liberty. After stopping outside restricted waters, it did a gentle pivot as passengers on the forward decks took photos and selfies with Lady Liberty in the background.
The sleek, sophisticated ferry that bears his name would have made him proud, several speakers said.
This ferry is the fourth built for NY Waterway by Yank Marine in Tuckahoe, which built the Molly Pitcher in 2015, the Betsy Ross in 2016, the FDR in 2020 and the Imperatore, which already entered service by doing July 4th charters, Pohan said. Officials said a final sister ferry to the FDR and Imperatore is under construction.
During the christening, Imperatore was recalled as a hard working man with numerous ideas, some successful, some not. One of eight children growing up in Manhattan’s lower east side, Imperatore joined four brothers after serving in World War II to start a trucking company that became giant APA transport.
Although he had business ventures from trucking to an NHL franchise, the achievement he would best be remembered for was NY Waterway.
Much was said about the entrepreneurial vision of the man whose plan to return ferry service to the Hudson River in 1986 was derisively called “Arthur’s Folly.”
That folly was credited for sparking the building boom on the Hudson River waterfront, especially along River Road, where NY Waterway’s Port Imperial ferry terminal was built on abandoned railroad property he bought.
While Pohan said someone else may have eventually come up with the same concept, Imperatore thought of it first.
Even Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, who feuded with NY Waterway over purchase and use of a former dry dock company, which the city eventually acquired for a park, attended the christening.
One of Imperatore’s proudest moments was the role NY Waterway ferries played in the 2009 “Miracle on the Hudson,” shuttling almost all the passengers from the U.S. Airways plane that was forced to land in the Hudson River when its engines shut down. That was followed by NY Waterway’s evacuation of more than 150,000 people from Manhattan after the 9-11 terrorist attacks shut down cross-Hudson rail service.
NJ Transit CEO Kevin Corbett knew Imperatore from his time in the maritime industry and at the Port Authority.
Corbett recalled how NY Waterway would be called in to move people when a problem in the Hudson River rail tunnels and how NY Waterway ferries are privately run, but is considered “critical part” of the public transit system.
“What a difference he made… this waterfront has changed tremendously. Arthur had that vision,” Corbett said.
That has allowed a public-private partnership with NJ Transit, where NJ Transit gets mileage credit from the ferries toward federal grants that have helped revamp NY Waterway ferries with more environmentally efficient engines.
Pohan recalled that when Imperatore was musing what to have put on his headstone, the company founder jokingly suggested, “He tried.”
“He thought big, he lived large and he made no little plans — he left the world a better place,” Pohan said. “Dad… your name, lettered on this boat, will not be forgotten.”
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Larry Higgs may be reached at [email protected].
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