![]() The crash itself was gentle, as the ferry settled on the sandy shores of southern Bainbridge Island. ![]() Passengers recalled the lights flickering, followed by alarms sounding on the boat and the captain warning people to brace for impact. The crew on board has been drug and alcohol tested, as is standard following any incident. Coast Guard will investigate the cause of the crash, said spokesperson Chief Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier. Saturday as it entered Rich Passage on its way to Seattle from Bremerton, after apparently losing power, according to a spokesperson for Washington State Ferries. As a result, the Legislature is likely to budget nearly $20 million this year just to keep the Tillikum running longer. But with contracting moving at the current speed, the earliest new ships would arrive is 2027. Three boats are due for retirement before 2027 the Tillikum was scheduled to be brought out of service this year. Ferries are regularly pulled from service for emergency repairs, most dramatically seen last summer when the ferry Cathlamet crashed off of the Fauntleroy dock. Two boats are kept out at any moment for maintenance, meaning that, with 21 boats available - down from 24 in 2016 - there is very little slack in the system. Eleven of the 21 vessels in use are over 40 years old, including five over 50.ĭuring the summer, 19 boats run at a time when there is full service. Washington State Ferries went 10 years, from 2000 to 2010, without building a new ferry. ![]() The crossing between Bremerton and Seattle has only had one boat for years now, as it’s considered a lower priority for normal service than other passages. Even before the Walla Walla’s crash, sailings were canceled between Bainbridge and Seattle due to crew shortages, a chronic issue dating back to 2020 when a wave of retirements, resignations and firings hit the ferry service. The fragility of the ferry system was on clear display all weekend. … As we look at the landscape, unfortunately, there’s not a guarantee we can find an affordable boat in Washington. “We can’t pay double for every single boat from here on out. “It was clear that our current model wasn’t working,” said the chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, Sen. It passed both the House and Senate with bipartisan support and now needs to be reconciled before heading to Inslee’s desk. Under the proposal, local builders would receive a credit on the bid price to give them a slight advantage. Previous rounds of bidding favored local builders, with the state only looking nationally if the bids came in at 5% or more above the engineers’ estimated cost.īut with Vigor sidelined, lawmakers lack confidence Washington will receive enough competitive and affordable local proposals, which would mean running yet another bidding process and using up yet more time.Ī bill in Olympia, House Bill 1846, could change all that, opening bidding nationally from the start, allowing yards as far away as Louisiana or Florida to have a chance at constructing the ferries. The state is in the process of rebidding the contracts for the next five boats. That means Washington is spending heavily to keep ships functioning when they’re due for retirement, like the 64-year-old Tillikum. The state is already behind by at least two years, due largely to a breakdown in negotiations with Vigor, the Seattle-based shipbuilder that constructed the last 10 ferries. Ballooning costs and workforce shortages could mean Washington does something it hasn’t done in more than 50 years: build the boats outside the state. Lawmakers in Olympia have begun to act, budgeting $1.5 billion over 16 years to build new vessels and convert existing ones to be electric.īut the challenges of completing the new ships go beyond budgeting. “Look, we have a very old fleet,” he said. Jay Inslee made from the shores of Bainbridge Island, where he looked on as the nearly 600 passengers were loaded onto rescue boats supplied by Kitsap Transit, an unwelcome marker of the 111th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking. The image, at once striking and unsettling, stood as backdrop to the state’s aging fleet of 21 ferries in need of ever more maintenance simply to keep them afloat. As the sun set and the tide receded on the beached ferry Walla Walla on Saturday night, the lights aboard the 50-year-old Jumbo class ship grew sharp against the darkening skies.
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