Sydney ferry fleet to go fully electric, with first on the harbour in 2026

The Sydney Harbour fleet is to go all electric, with the first fully electric ferry set to join the Parramatta River service in 2026, and the first Manly and inner harbour ferries to  follow soon after.

The initiative was announced on Tuesday by NSW transport minister Jo Haylen, as part of a refresh that will look at locally made ferries and an upgrade from the increasingly costly and polluting vessels that currently criss cross the harbour.

The NSW Government is planning the phased replacement of all diesel-powered craft with modern vessels powered by green energy alternatives by 2035. The new vessels will be built locally.

“Sydney’s iconic double-ended Manly vessels started as steam ships, became the diesel ferries we know and love today, and will soon evolve into modern electric vessels,” Haylen said in a statement.

A tender will be called to gauge the options for the replacement of the Manly Freshwater fleet, which could include hydrogen given the extra distances and demands of a route that encounters heavier swells. But the ambition for the inner harbour First Fleet ferries and the Parramatta River Class ferries is for them to be battery electric.

A new fleet of seven Parramatta River Class ferries is currently mid-way through construction in Tasmania, and have been built to allow the conversion to electric propulsion when shore-side charging infrastructure can be put in place.

However, the government is also preparing a business case to commission an eighth Parramatta River Class vessel that will be battery electric from the get-go and could be ready for trials by early 2026.

It says this would be Sydney Ferries’ first electric vessel and would provide the road map for the introduction of new electric ferries across the harbour.

Brisbane is also looking to electrify its ferry fleet in the lead up to the Olympic Games in that city in 2032, and Tasmania’s Incat is building the world’s largest and longest fully electric ship, a 130m ferry destined for South America, as well as other electric ferries for various international customers.

In Sydney, the nine First Fleet vessels, which operate in the inner Harbour and which entered service in the mid-1980s, are set to retire by the end of the decade.

Haylen says designs for their replacements are due to commence this year, in tandem with the development of charging infrastructure and necessary modifications to shipyards to accommodate electric vessels.

“While we’ve extended the life of our Freshwater vessels, it’s important that we continue to plan for our future fleet. Manly needs high-capacity, reliable vessels that can load and unload hundreds of commuters and tourists within minutes of a ferry pulling into Manly or the Quay,” Haylen said.

“What we found with the overseas built Emerald IIs was that they weren’t built for the conditions, and people were left on wharves in the summer months because the single gangway couldn’t load these ferries fast enough.

“These new ferries will continue the important legacy of the Freshwaters, provide the capacity the community needs and combine it with new zero-emission propulsion to deliver a next generation ferry that’ll be fit for our harbour for years to come.”

Councillor Candy Bingham, a member of the Save the Manly Ferry Committee, says she hopes that the fully electric replacement for the Freshwater vessels will be “look alike” to the current fleet.

“I hope this market sounding process delivers us exactly that,” she said. The Manly Ferry has always been iconic to Sydney.  This next generation zero-emissions look-alike ferry will continue that history.”