Derecktor Shipyards is currently building an organic market delivery vessel (OMDV) for Harbor Harvest, (Norwalk, Conn) as an alternative transportation platform for organic food shipping.
Harbor Connect, the new aluminium catamaran workboat will feature a hybrid propulsion system: she will be powered by a BAE Systems HybriDrive propulsion package with lithium batteries and Cummins QSB6.7 engines, which will allow for a cruising speed of 15-knots.
The new OMDV will be the third vessel in Derecktor’s hybrid series, and she has been designed to carry 9,000 lbs of protected refrigerated cargo and 3,000 lbs of deck cargo. Harbor Connect will travel without emissions for up to three hours running on its lithium battery component.
Derecktor teamed up with Harbor Harvest to create an eco-friendly marine coastal network to integrate a retail space along with the support of the organic farm market in the Connecticut/Long Island Gold Coast and Long Island Sound area. Trade routes are based on farm locations and will support a wide range of coastal area. The project is aimed to move freight onto the water and to provide a more environmentally sustainable farm-to-market system.
Fuel efficiency and battery life for the new vessel have already been tested on the trade routes: shore side facilities along the way will allow for recharging the battery system. The vessel is scheduled to be delivered in spring of 2018.
Students, Composites and Performance
Silvia Chiarito
May 18, 2026
Vaber worked with Politecnico di Torino to train engineering students who, between lectures and exams, design and build racing boats and single-seaters: materials, method and applied know-how at the core. They learnt when the process makes the difference – even beyond the university workshop – with Plexus structural adhesives, spray tack and infusion consumables, key elements in composite materials engineering.
