A new propeller system on the Seastreak ferryboat that smashed into a downtown pier yesterday has caused “problems” for its captains ever since it was installed last summer, people close to the company say.
“They had problems with that work . . . There were problems with the gears,” said a source who knows many Seastreak employees.
Dee Wertz, who witnessed yesterday’s crash, said that just before the smashup, a ferry worker told her the captains of the Seastreak Wall Street had griped that the ship was difficult to steer.
“He was telling me that none of these guys like this boat,” she said.
PHOTOS: SEASTREAK FERRY CRASHES INTO PIER 11
RIDER’S FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF FERRY CRASH
CRASH DRAWS REMINDERS OF 2003 TRAGEDY
The 141-foot Wall Street launched in October 2003 equipped with four diesel engines attached to four Rolls-Royce-built Waterjet propulsion units.
To save fuel, the company outfitted the Wall Street with a propeller system.
Seastreak began ferry service between Atlantic Highlands, NJ, and Manhattan in 1986. Its current owners took over after a 2006 bankruptcy filing.
No one was hurt in the company’s most serious incident before yesterday, a September 2001 engine fire aboard the Seastreak New York that forced 198 passengers and six crew members to evacuate to a Coast Guard dock in Sandy Hook, NJ.