AUGUST 2019 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 19
Robert Kunkel on a practice run launching the first hybrid catamaran.
SOUND OF FRESHNESS
BY JAMES BERNSTEIN
The Captain Ben Moore, one of the nation’s first hybrid cargo boats, is sailing the deep
blue sea, or at least the Long Island Sound version of it, transporting farm produce
between Huntington and Norwalk, Conn., in what may be the start of a new era in the
way America delivers goods.
The 65-foot catamaran hybrid’s debut is a 10-year-old dream come true for Norwalk
native Robert Kunkel, a graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and
licensed engineer who wanted to use the local waterways much the way people did
over a century ago, before the construction of massive interstate highways, when
trucking became king.
His Long Island Sound ferry service, Harbor Harvest, is named for an artisanal
grocery and café in Norwalk he has run with his wife, Marilyn Kunkel, since 2015. The
catamaran is named after a sailor who years ago became Kunkel’s mentor.
“This is all about removing freight congestion from the highways and moving them to
the waterways,” Kunkel says. “We had moved freight on the waterways for centuries
in this country.”
WHAT’S INSIDE continued on page 20
22 24 MOVERS &
25 26 NONPROFIT
27SPOTLIGHT
CHARITY
CORNER OFFICE SHAKERS
WHOLLY MOLI EVENTS
PRESS BUSINESS
HYBRID CORGO BOAT FORGES ROUTE BETWEEN LI AND CONNECTICUT
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
