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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Four old ferries sold for scrap 6/23/09   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, April 21, 2008 State to solicit new bids on a 50-car ferry The single bid for a Steilacoom II-class boat was $9 million more than the state estimated. By Scott North Herald Writer SEATTLE -- The state ferry system expects this week to try again on a plan to quickly add a new small, car-carrying vessel to its fleet. Before week's end, Washington State Ferries plans to again advertise for bids on a 50-car ferry based on the Steilacoom II design, Marta Coursey, communications director for the ferry system, said Friday. The state Department of Transportation on April 3 rejected a $26 million bid from Todd Pacific Shipyards to build a boat similar to the one the ferry system is now leasing from Pierce County. Todd said it needed roughly $9 million more than state engineers estimated as the cost for the new boat. The state has been using the Steilacoom II with mixed results on the challenging route across Admiralty Inlet between Keystone on Whidbey Island and Port Townsend. The leased ferry frequently has been sidelined because of high winds and waves. About 40 percent of the difference between the state's estimate and Todd's bid was labor costs, but modifications to the ferry's design, requested by the state, also added to costs, Coursey said. "We've had changes to the specs regarding safety, security and quality. What they needed for Pierce County is different from what we need on Keystone-to-Port Townsend." The potential speed with which a Steilacoom II-style boat could be built is one of its chief selling points for the ferry system. Ferry officials also are hopeful it later could be used elsewhere in the system, likely in south Puget Sound or between the San Juan Islands. Adding a Steilacoom II-style boat also could allow the ferry system to retire the Rhododendron, which was launched in 1947 and is showing its age, Coursey said. The state also is pursuing plans to construct larger, Island Home-class vessels that can carry up to 80 vehicles. Many state officials believe those ferries would be a better fit, but they will take more time to build and are more expensive. "Very early estimates are upwards of $34 million to $36 million (each), but it could be more," Coursey said. "We have not done a complete cost estimate yet." One option the state is not studying is attempting to bring back the 1927-vintage Steel Electric-class ferries. Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond tied up the Steel Electrics Nov. 20 after close inspection of the Quinault found extensive corrosion in the hull. The state initially thought repairs could be made to the Quinault and a sister ferry, the Illahee. They hoped to squeeze at least two more years of service from the octogenarian ferries, records show. Work was stopped in mid-December after engineers determined nearly half of the Quinault's hull plating was so rusted it needed to be replaced at a cost of $8 million. The state spent close to $1 million prepping the Illahee for the same close inspection. When they stopped, engineers estimated repairs to that ferry could cost more than $5 million. Repairs were not attempted on the remaining Steel Electrics, the Klickitat and the Nisqually. In addition to possible hull repairs, both needed concrete removed from their bilges and 80-year-old cast iron stern tubes replaced. The state sought bids for that work on the Klickitat but later abandoned the effort. The Nisqually, generally considered the least reliable of the old ferries, had been tied to a dock for years in deep reserve. The Coast Guard allowed it to be pressed back into service last year but ordered hull checks by ferry crews every four hours and weekly internal structural exams. Attempting to bring the Steel Electrics back also would raise legal headaches. Coast Guard permission to operate the Quinault -- known as a certificate of inspection -- expired Dec. 14. The same thing is set to happen Saturday for the Illahee and by mid-May for the Nisqually and the Klickitat. None of the Steel Electrics have ever met federal safety standards for watertight compartments, in effect since the 1950s. They operated under conditional Coast Guard approval that "grandfathered" their hulls. Ferry officials have been told that special approval disappears once the certificates expire, Coursey said. State lawmakers this year looked at repairing the Steel Electrics, including one suggestion to cut the boats up and place them on new hulls. Instead, they approved a bill requiring the ferry system, by June 1, to "sell, be in the process of selling, or otherwise dispose of" the Steel Electrics. The direction was "very clear," Coursey said. Reporter Scott North: 425-339-3431 or north@heraldnet.com.

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