Manhattan Cruise Terminal to Host Hospital Ship

Manhattan Cruise Terminal and Pier 90 are set to play host to the USNS Comfort hospital ship, which is scheduled to arrive on Monday.

The hospital ship, with 1,000 beds, is set to leave Norfolk over the weekend, while work is speeding along in Manhattan to dredge the berth thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers, according to a spokesperson from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), which essentially oversees the city’s cruise facilities.

The dredging will be done this weekend and allows the berth to have sufficient depth to accommodate the USNS Comfort, the spokesperson told Cruise Industry News.

The ship is scheduled to stay 14 days at this point, but that could likely extend. The vessel will berth at the north end of Pier 90; it is unlikely the terminal could accommodate cruise operations at the same time.

Slightly south, Pier 88 is the city’s main cruise terminal and shares various staging areas with Pier 90.

The ship was deployed via an order from President Donald. J. Trump. 

According to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the hospital ship will expand the number of available beds. However, COVID-19 patients will not be treated aboard the vessel. Instead, it will free up hospital beds for COVID-19 patients as other patients are transferred to the ship.

The Comfort previously docked at Pier 92 in Manhattan following the 9/11 terror attacks.