Ferry

Ferries are ships or boats that are generally used in the transportation of people, but can be also used as car transportation ship and cargo ships in seas or rivers, if a ferry makes several stops to reach its final destinations people called it a water bus or a water taxi.
The ferry is part of the transportation systems in many cities because they are cheaper than building tunnels and bridges. They might be also used to connect cities that are in different countries, that services are called ferry services.

Important services of ferries around the world

There are different services that this kind of transportation provides andsome of the most important ones are located in:

• North America

The services in the North American region are plenty because of the large areas that can be sailed. Some of the best known services are:

• BC Ferries, which is used for transportation of passengers between Vancouver Island and British Columbia.
• Washington State Ferries is a ferry service that operates one of the largest ferries systems in the world that have more than 10 routes.
• Staten Island Ferry in NY, which operates between Manhattan Island and Staten Island is the most popular service in the United States because it server the highest quantity of people.
• Europe

There are also a lot of navigable waters in Europe that is why the ferries are very popular in several cities.

• One of the greatest is the English Channel which connects Great Britain and Europe.

There are also several cruise ferries that connect some European countries in the Baltic Sea, these ferries can be called cruises but they also transport cars.

• Asia
• Star ferry, which connects Hong Kong and other close islands.
• Penang ferry service is the older ferry service in Malaysia.

Types of Ferries

The types of ferries change upon its design because ferries are designed upon its function, what they are going to transport and the speed they need to reach.

All the ferries are Powerboats and we can explain some of them:

• Double-ended, these kinds of ferries can interchange the bow and the stern so they can shuttle back and forth.
• Hydrofoil, this special kind of ferry can reach high speeds and are uses as transportation systems in some regions like: the Canary Islands.
• Hovercrafts, this kind of boat was designed to transport cars but was replaced by the catamarans.
• Catamarans, they are boats that uses two or more hulls. Catamarans are high-speed ferries that transport passengers and cars.
• Ro-ro, they are the conventional ferries that are used in most of the shores.
• Fast RoPax ferry, they are ferries that has a garage on it and some of them has small cabins.
• Turntable ferry, this kind of ferry can change the door where the vehicles enter to the garage.
• Foot Ferries, are boats that are used to transport foot passenger and sometimes cyclist short distances. This kind of ferries is popular in the Chez Republic and in the most populated cities of Netherlands.