The Cape May Lewes Ferry has upgraded the evacuation systems on all three vessels in its fleet.
It took two years to purchase and install the new system at a cost of $800,000.
It uses an inflatable ramp for ferry-goers to slide down into rafts if there’s an evacuation.
Cape May Lewes Ferry Port Captain Derek Robinson says if an emergency would’ve occurred on the ferry before the new system was installed, the rafts would’ve just been thrown overboard with no ramp for people to slide down.
“To get into them our customers would go down onto our main deck—onto the car deck—and have to jump into the rafts when they were pulled up next to the boat. This could be anywhere from 12 to 15-foot drop, would be slow if it ever had to be done and relatively unsafe," said Robinson.
The new evacuation system is designed to move 750 passengers off of a vessel within 30 minutes.
The Cape May Lewes Ferry has never had to evacuate passengers in its 67-year history.
“Thankfully, we’ve never used one for an emergency purpose," said Robinson. "We do drill with them once a year. They are inflated and all of our personnel are trained on their use, but we have never used one in the past for an actual evacuation.”
Officials say the Cape May Lewes Ferry is the first ferry service in the United States to use this type of evacuation system.
