Ferry
A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus.
Ferries form a part of the public transport systems of many waterside cities and islands, allowing direct transit between points at a capital cost much lower than bridges or tunnels. Ship connections of much larger distances may also be called ferry services, and many carry vehicles.
History
The profession of the ferryman is embodied in Greek mythology in Charon, the boatman who transported souls across the River Styx to the Underworld.Speculation that a pair of oxen propelled a ship having a water wheel can be found in 4th century Roman literature "Anonymus De Rebus Bellicis". The concept was refined to use horses turning a capstan or a treadmill; this was a precursor to steam to drive paddlewheel boats. These were known as team boats. An example was the Experiment, which was used on Lake Champlain in 19th-century America.
In 1850 the roll-on roll-off ferry, Leviathan designed to carry freight wagons efficiently across the Firth of Forth in Scotland started to operate between Granton, near Edinburgh, and Burntisland in Fife. The vessel design was highly innovative and the ability to move freight in great quantities and with minimal labour signalled the way ahead for sea-borne transport, converting the ro-ro ferry from an experimental and marginal ship type into one of central importance in the transport of goods and passengers.
In 1871, the world's first car ferry crossed the Bosphorus in Istanbul. The iron steamship, named Suhulet was designed by the general manager of Şirket-i Hayriye, Giritli Hüseyin Haki Bey and built by the Greenwich shipyard of Maudslay, Sons and Field. It weighed 157 tons, was long, wide and had a draft of. It was capable of travelling up to 6 knots with the side wheel turned by its 450-horsepower, single-cylinder, two-cycle steam engine. Launched in 1872, Suhulet's unique features consisted of a symmetrical entry and exit for horse carriages, along with a dual system of hatchways. The ferry operated on the Üsküdar-Kabataş route, which is still serviced by modern ferries today.
Notable services
Asia
In Hong Kong, Star Ferry carries passengers across Victoria Harbour. Other carriers ferry travelers between Hong Kong Island and outlying islands like Cheung Chau, Lantau Island and Lamma Island.In the Philippines, the Philippine Nautical Highway System forms the backbone of the nationwide transport system by integrating ports with highway systems; the system has three main routes. Another known ferry service is the Pasig River Ferry Service, which is the only water-based transportation in Metro Manila. This system cruises the Pasig River.
Bangladesh
India
India's ro-ro ferry service between Ghogha and Dahej was inaugurated on 22 October 2017. It aims to connect South Gujarat and Saurashtra currently separated by of roadway to of ferry service. It is a part of the larger Sagar Mala project.Water transport in Mumbai consists of ferries, hovercraft, and catamarans, operated by various government agencies as well as private entities. The Kerala State Water Transport Department, operating under the Ministry of Transport, Government of Kerala, India regulates the inland navigation systems in the Indian state of Kerala and provides inland water transport facilities. It stands for catering to the passenger and cargo traffic needs of the inhabitants of the waterlogged areas of the Districts of Alappuzha, Kottayam, Kollam, Ernakulam, Kannur and Kasargode. SWTD ferry service is also one of the most affordable modes to enjoy the beauty of the scenic Kerala backwaters.
Ferry operates between Port Blair, Havelock and Neil Islands in the Andaman Islands while Boat Operates For Ross Island, North Bay, Elephanta Beach, Red Skin, Jolly Bouy. Ferries and catamarans are operated by Green Ocean, Makruzz, ITT Majestic, Nautika.
The Kochi Water Metro is a public water transport system serving the Kochi metropolitan area in the Indian state of Kerala. It operates as an extension of the city’s urban transit network and the Kochi Metro, linking the mainland with surrounding islands through a series of scheduled ferry routes. Managed by Kochi Metro Rail Limited, the system employs battery-powered electric boats and includes multiple terminals across the Kochi backwaters. The service was inaugurated in April 2023 and represents one of the first organized water metro projects in India designed for regular commuter use.
Indonesia
As the largest archipelagic country, Indonesia has several ferry routes which is managed mostly by PT. ASDP Indonesia Ferry and several private companies. ASDP Indonesia Ferry or ASDP is a state-owned company engaged in the business of integrated ferry and port services and waterfront tourist destinations. ASDP operates a ferry fleet of more than 160 units handling more than 300 routes in 36 ports throughout Indonesia.Japan
Japan used to rely heavily on ferries for passenger and goods transportation among the four main islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. However, as highway and railway bridges and undersea tunnels have been constructed, the ferry transportation has recently become for short-distance sightseeing passengers with or without car, and for long-distance truck drivers hauling goods.Malaysia
The Malaysian state of Penang is home to the oldest ferry service in the country. The first regular ferry service operating across the Penang Strait between George Town and Province Wellesley was launched in 1894 by Quah Beng Kee and his brothers. The iconic yellow double-deck roll-on/roll-off ferries were introduced in 1957. Between 1959 and 2002, a total of 15 vessels were commissioned for the service.Currently operated by Penang Port Sdn Bhd, the ferry service has evolved over the decades. The RORO ferries were retired in 2021, with speedboats temporarily replacing them. In 2023, these speedboats were succeeded by four newly-built catamarans, which now serve only passengers and motorcyclists. These catamarans operate between the Raja Tun Uda Ferry Terminal in George Town and the Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry Terminal in Seberang Perai.
Russian Federation
Due to the geographical features of Russia, it has a large number of both sea and river ferry crossings. Car ferries operate from the continental part of Russia to Sakhalin, Kamchatka and Japan. The Ust-Luga – Kaliningrad ferry also runs, until February 2022 ferries also ran from St. Petersburg to different cities of the Baltic Sea. Before the construction of the Kerch Bridge, there was a ferry across the Kerch Strait, whose service was resumed after the Kerch bridge explosion.There are also more than 100 ferry crossings on different rivers in Russia. These are usually symmetrical through ferries with two ramps for quick entry and exit of cars. For some categories of car owners, these ferries may be free if there is no alternative crossing of the river.
Europe
Scotland
In Scotland, ferry services form a vital part of the national transport network, connecting the mainland with more than sixty inhabited islands and linking remote peninsulas to the rest of the country. Caledonian MacBrayne, operating under contract with Transport Scotland, runs the largest network, serving communities across the west coast and the Hebrides. A range of smaller operators, including local authorities and private companies, provide additional river, coastal, and inter-island services. Ferries have long played an important role in Scotland’s transport history, and they remain essential today for residents, freight, and tourism owing to the country’s rugged coastline and widely dispersed island communities.England
The busiest seaway in the world, the English Channel, connects England and mainland Europe, with ships sailing from the English ports of Dover, Newhaven, Poole, Portsmouth and Plymouth to French ports, such as Calais, Dunkirk, Dieppe, Roscoff, Cherbourg-Octeville, Caen, St Malo and Le Havre. The busiest ferry route to France is the Dover to Calais crossing with approximately 9,168,000 passengers using the service in 2018. Ferries from England also sail to Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Ireland. Some ferries carry mainly tourist traffic, but most also carry freight, and some are exclusively for the use of freight lorries. In England, car-carrying ferries are sometimes referred to as RORO for the ease by which vehicles can board and leave.Denmark
The busiest single ferry route in terms of the number of departures is across the northern part of Øresund, between Helsingborg, Scania, Sweden and Elsinore, Denmark. Before the Øresund bridge was opened in July 2000, car and "car and train" ferries departed up to seven times every hour. This has since been reduced, but a car ferry still departs from each harbor every 15 minutes during daytime. The route is around and the crossing takes 22 minutes. Today, all ferries on this route are constructed so that they do not need to turn around in the harbors. This also means that the ferries lack stems and sterns, since the vessels sail in both directions. Starboard and port-side are dynamic, depending on the direction the ferry sails. Despite the short crossing, the ferries are equipped with restaurants, cafeterias, and kiosks. Passengers without cars often make a double or triple return journey in the restaurants; for this, a single journey ticket is sufficient. Passenger and bicycle passenger tickets are inexpensive compared with longer routes.Baltic Sea
Large cruiseferries sail in the Baltic Sea between Finland, Åland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Saint Petersburg, Russia. In many ways, these ferries are like cruise ships, but they can also carry hundreds of cars on car decks. Besides providing passenger and car transport across the sea, Baltic Sea cruiseferries are a popular tourist destination unto themselves, with multiple restaurants, nightclubs, bars, shops and entertainment on board. Helsinki was the busiest international passenger ferry port in the world in 2017 with over 11.8 million passengers whilst the second business international ferry port, Dover, had 11.7 million passengers. The Helsinki-Tallinn route alone accounted for nine million passengers. In 2022 the port of Helsinki had almost 8 million passengers, of which 6.3 million travelled between Helsinki and Tallinn. Additionally many smaller ferries operate on domestic routes in Finland, Sweden and Estonia.The south-west and southern parts of the Baltic Sea has several routes mainly for heavy traffic and cars. The ferry routes of Rødby-Puttgarden, Trelleborg-Rostock, Trelleborg-Travemünde, Trelleborg-Świnoujście, Gedser-Rostock, Gdynia-Karlskrona, and Ystad-Świnoujście are all typical transports ferries. On the longer of these routes, simple cabins are available. Some of these routes previously also carried trains, but since 2020 these trains are instead routed around the Baltic via the Great Belt fixed link and Jutland.