Editorial: State needs quicker route for its new ferries
Washington state may drop its long-followed “Build in Washington” requirement for construction of vessels for the Washington State Ferry system — including five new “plug-in” electric hybrid ferries — opening up those bids to shipyards nationwide in order to more quickly build up its fleet of aging boats.
Of WSF’s current fleet of 21 ferries, 11 vessels are more 40 years old, with three launched in the late-1950s and early-1960s. Maintenance demands, the occasional accident and staffing problems during the pandemic have made it difficult for the ferry system to keep routes moving with the preferred number of boats. Earlier this month, the ferry system announced that it is not likely to restore service between Anacortes and Vancouver Island in British Columbia — a popular tourist route in summer — until at least 2030 because the one ferry certified for international waters is needed on other routes.
And after the State Department of Transportation and the Seattle shipbuilder Vigor couldn’t come to terms on a contract for those next five 144-vehicle, 1,500-passenger ferries last summer, the arrival of the first of those ferries — the Wishkah — has been pushed back until at least 2027.
Which is why the state Legislature, with just a month left in the regular session, is considering legislation that would drop rules that require ferries be built in Washington state.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/editorial-state-needs-quicker-route-for-its-new-ferries/