This overhaul will both update the struggling fleet of old and outdated vessels and tackle Gov. Jay Inslee’s long-range push to trim carbon emissions in Washington.
Currently, the WSF is struggling to keep its 10 routes that criss-cross Puget Sound fully functional. The system needs 19 vessels during its peak usage period and 17 during the off-season. Eight years ago, the ferry system had 24 boats, but three have since been sold after they reached the lifespan for which they were designed. The oldest vessels are 64 years old. With some ferries being maintained or under repair, the fleet usually has 16 to 18 vessels in service at a time.
“They were old then and older now. … We have an urgent need for new vessels,” said Matt von Ruden, the WSF’s electrification program administrator.
Drinking up to 18 million gallons of diesel fuel a year, the ferry fleet is the state government’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide. The ferry system’s overhaul is supposed to trim the fleet’s emissions by 50% by 2033 prior to meeting its 2040 target of 76%.
Last year, to help open the number of facilities available to build ferries as well as to increase competition, the Legislature passed a law that allows Washington to use out-of-state shipyards to build ferries.
The WSF already has been in contact with shipyards in Washington, California, Florida and the Gulf Coast that would be interested in building these ships. The contracts will go to the lowest bidder, but Washington shipyards will get an advantage of 13% of their bids.
Since ferries are not oceangoing ships, any built outside of Washington would be lifted onto a cargo ship to be transferred to Puget Sound.
The plan is to have 22 hybrids in the fleet by 2040 along with four existing 144-vehicle Olympic vessels serving the San Juan Islands. The replacement of the final four diesel ferries after 2040 has not been mapped out yet.
Here is the plan:
Converting six diesel ferries into hybrid diesel-electric boats
The three biggest ferries are 202-vehicle Mark IIs. Right now, the Mark II vessel Wenatchee is being converted into a hybrid at Seattle’s Vigor Shipyard. Instead of its current four diesel engines, it will be returned to duty by October with two battery-driven engines and two backup diesels.
The Tacoma will be converted next by fall 2025, followed by the Puyallup if money is available. So far, Washington State Ferries has spent almost $35 million of the $140.6 million allocated by the Legislature, in a 2022 transportation package, for the conversions of the Wenatchee and the Tacoma. Gov. Jay Inslee has asked for $50 million in this year’s supplemental budget to overhaul the Puyallup.
Meanwhile, three Kwa-di Tabil-class ferries – the smallest in the fleet, which are capable of carrying 64 vehicles – will be converted next.
Building five new hybrid vessels
The ferry system hopes to award one or two contracts on building five new 144-vehicle hybrid ferries, to be completed by 2030.
So far $14.8 million in preparatory work has been done, with the 2022 transportation package allocating $1.1 billion to these five vessels.
Upgrading ferry terminals with electric chargers
Ultimately, 16 terminals will be upgraded so the electric vessels will have a place to charge. So far, $101.7 million in revenue from Washington’s cap-and-invest program has been allocated for five such terminals in Seattle and on Bainbridge island. “We plan to charge two large ferries in downtown Seattle simultaneously without the lights dimming on the [Pier 57] Carousel,” von Ruden said.
The terminals in Bremerton, Clinton and Kingston will follow, with the Southworth-Vashon-Fauntleroy triangle being next. Because the triangle route is short, likely only one terminal will be electrified to serve that route, von Ruden said.
WSF’s master schedule calls for:
- The Seattle-Bainbridge route to be partly electrified later this year and fully electrified by 2027.
- The Seattle-Bremerton route to be partly electrified in late 2026 and fully electrified by 2032.
- The Clinton-Mukilteo route to be partly electrified by 2027 and fully electrified by 2029.
- The Edmonds-Kingston route to be partly electrified by late 2026 and fully electrified by 2033.
- The Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route to be partly electrified by late 2026 and fully electrified by 2032.
- The Point Defiance-Tahlequah route to be partly electrified by 2030 and fully electrified by 2031.
- The Port Townsend-Coupeville route would be partly electrified by 2031 and fully electrified by 2033.
- Ferries and terminals serving Anacortes, the San Juan Islands and Sidney, B.C., would be partly electrified in 2033 and fully electrified later.
John Stang
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