San Francisco Bay electric ferry program plans 5 vessels, not just 3
The San Francisco Bay electric ferry program, called REEF for Rapid Electric Emission Free, plans 5 battery electric vessels in total, ships that run on electricity stored in batteries instead of burning diesel fuel. Most coverage of the program describes only a single contract covering 3 of those vessels. San Francisco Bay Ferry, the public transit agency that runs the boats, also known as the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority, lists the full plan on its own program page, read directly for this article rather than taken from that single contract announcement. The page names 3 vessels carrying 150 passengers each, built by All American Marine with Wartsila supplying the electric propulsion, the motors and batteries that move the ship, and 2 larger vessels carrying 400 passengers each, built by a separate company, Nichols Brothers Boat Builders.
A federal grant leads a list of 5 awards for the program
The Environmental Protection Agency Clean Ports Program, a federal grant that funds projects cutting pollution at ports, awarded the REEF program 55 million dollars around November 2024, the largest single grant on the operating agency own list. That list, also read directly from the agency own program page, shows 4 earlier awards stretching back to July 2022, a combined federal and state effort spread across more than 2 years rather than a single check. None of the 5 awards on that list adds up to a stated total program cost anywhere on the agency page, so this article names each grant on its own rather than adding them into a number no source states.
All 5 grants come from 1 source, the operating agency own program page, so the figures are printed exactly as that page lists them rather than combined into a total the page itself never states.
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| July 2022 grant | 14,900,000 |
| April 2023 facility grant | 13,800,000 |
| November 2023 grant | 16,000,000 |
| October 2024 Harbor Bay grant | 12,000,000 |
| November 2024 Clean Ports grant | 55,000,000 |
The first vessels enter service in early 2027
Wartsila booked its propulsion contract for the first 3 vessels in the first quarter of 2025, and expects to start delivering its electric propulsion equipment in 2026. All American Marine is building the ferries in Bellingham, Washington, and expects the first vessel in service in early 2027, running new routes between Treasure Island, Mission Bay and the Downtown San Francisco terminal. Each of those vessels runs 100 feet long, 26 feet across its beam, the width of the ship, and sits 5.9 feet deep in the water, a measurement called its draft. It cruises at 24 knots, a unit of speed for ships, powered by 2 electric motors rated 625 kilowatts each, a measure of how much power a motor delivers.
All 3 measurements describe the same 150 passenger vessel design, the first of the 2 vessel types the REEF program is building.
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| Length | 100 |
| Beam | 26 |
| Draft | 5.9 |
These 150 passenger ferries represent a transformative step forward in sustainable and innovative marine transportation.
Ron Wille, president of All American Marine. Source 1.
A larger, second order follows in 2028
The 2 larger, 400 passenger vessels are a separate order from Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, aimed at a 2028 delivery alongside a new Mission Bay terminal the agency plans to open the same year. The agency plan for REEF continues beyond these 5 vessels, aiming in later phases to reach other San Francisco Bay communities including Oakland, Alameda, Richmond and Vallejo, though none of those later phases yet has a vessel order or a grant attached to it.
The award of this contract represents a clear endorsement of our strong track record in systems integration and emission free propulsion.
Jan Othman, vice president of project services at Wartsila Marine. Source 1.