Everett, Wash.
Published: Thursday, April 19, 2007

Fast-track for a new fleet of state ferries

The Legislature's plan would make it easier for two builders to bid on updating the state's aging fleet.

By Jerry Cornfield and Scott North / Herald Writers

 OLYMPIA - The state is pushing two of Washington's major ship builders to join forces in constructing the next generation of ferries.

Legislation headed to the governor aims to coax Todd Pacific Shipyards Corp. of Seattle and J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp. of Tacoma into sharing work worth $342 million and hundreds of union jobs.

Gov. Chris Gregoire said she will sign the bill in hopes that it will spur the shipbuilders and the state to set aside years of differences long enough to find a route to building new ferries.

"We've asked the Legislature to put the pressure on us to get the job done," Gregoire said. "We've got a long way to go. We just can't get one built and that's been the frustration."

The average age of ferries in the state's fleet is 41 years. The last new ferry was launched in 1999. State leaders hope to have a new ferry on the water by 2009.

The Legislature in 2001 approved building four new ferries. Up until recently, Washington State Ferries said its primary goal was to retire its 80-year-old Steel Electric class vessels - the oldest ferries operating in salt water in the U.S.

The legislation headed to Gregoire will not replace the old boats, including vessels such as the 1927-vintage Klickitat, which operates between Keystone on Whidbey Island and Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula.

Meanwhile, the Klickitat is falling apart.

Over the past 10 years, six breaches, or holes, have been found in the hull. Emergency repairs for those problems, as well as work on damaged rudders and decks, have sidelined the ferry 11 times since 1997, most recently in March.

The Klickitat is one of the few ferries in the fleet that's small and agile enough to navigate Keystone Harbor and the terminal at Keystone. The state has spent six years and at least $5.5 million planning for new terminals at Keystone but recently abandoned the project.

"That's not even in the mix," said state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee.

This legislative session, Haugen, Gregoire and other lawmakers focused on building new 144-car ferries and resuming studies on options for Keystone and elsewhere.

"We're not going to get anything done up north until we can break this logjam and make some things happen," Gregoire said.

House Bill 2378 gives Martinac and Todd 30 days to propose a joint venture to the state, or else the process reverts back to where it is today.

Under the bill, Gregoire, her staff and officials of the Department of Transportation, which manages the ferry system, can participate in talks with company leaders.

That hasn't happened for months because of the ongoing disagreements, litigation and the state's own rules governing bids.

Tom Fitzsimmons, Gregoire's chief of staff, said he hopes that on the day the bill is signed, a meeting will be held involving all the stakeholders.

Martinac and Todd supported the legislation, and representatives said Monday they will try to find common ground.

"Am I confident that this is going to work? I wouldn't say that," said Michael Marsh, general counsel for Todd. "I'm confident we're going to give it our best shot. We've been trying to make progress on ferry building since 2001."

The state awarded a ferry-building contract to Todd in 2005. Martinac protested, arguing the state had illegally bumped it from the competition.

Within months, an administrative hearings judge agreed, and the ferry system was forced to scuttle its deal with Todd.

Martinac is hopeful that the legislation will give it a fair chance at playing a role in building the state's next ferries, said the company's attorney, Jed Powell, of the Seattle law firm Cairncross and Hempelmann.

Officials at the Tacoma company have grown so frustrated dealing with the state over the past six years that they filed a federal lawsuit last summer, alleging ferry officials and others engaged in civil racketeering in handling the new ferry project.

The legislation now awaiting Gregoire's signature has no bearing on that lawsuit, Powell said.

The 144-car ferries the state now wants to build won't work at Keystone. That's because state ferry planners decided they should use conventional steering and propulsion systems - items ferry officials already have purchased, despite not knowing who will build the next generation of ferries, or finalizing vessel design.

Martinac has been pitching ferries that would use a more maneuverable "Z-drive" system that relies on thrust from moveable propellers, not rudders, for steering.

Todd's attorney, Marsh, said such an alternative design is not a subject for the joint venture envisioned in the legislation.

"Our job is to build what the state wants to build. We'll do what the customer wants," Marsh said. "If it does come up, I think it's a nonstarter. The state isn't interested in buying Martinac's design and they've been told that many times."

Martinac "recognizes that the state is the customer and they can choose to build whatever they choose to build," Powell said. "Martinac can build whatever the state wants as well or better than any other builder in the state. This includes the 144-car ferries with the pre-purchased propulsion systems.

"Having said that," Powell added, "Martinac wonders why the state will not allow Martinac to build vessels that will meet the need, replace the Steel Electrics and transit every terminal, including Keystone Harbor, as it is presently configured. Perhaps that will be included in the next building phase."

Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA