$9 million overbid could result in gap in ferry service for Port Townsend, ferries chief says
David Moseley, new state deputy transportation secretary, ferries division, explains his approach to coming up with solutions for the ferry system during a Port Townsend-Keystone Ferry Route Partnership Group meeting Thursday afternoon at Fort Casey State Park near Keystone. Listening are ferries engineer Ron Wohlfrom, left, and state Rep. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor. -- Photo by Jeff Chew/Peninsula Daily News
By Jeff Chew, Peninsula Daily News
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Todd Pacific Shipyards, the lone bidder on the project, said it would cost nearly $26 million to build the ferry.
The state Department of Transportation has estimated it would cost nearly $17 million.
The bid, opened in Seattle on Thursday, was $9 million over the state's estimate.
"We will review the bid and determine if we will throw it out," David Moseley, new state deputy transportation secretary for the ferries division, told the Port Townsend-Keystone Ferry Partnership group meeting Fort Casey near the Keystone ferry landing on Whidbey Island.
Moseley said that if the project to build a ferry modeled on the Steilacoom II was dropped, "The result would be, let's just proceed with the Island Home."
The state Legislature has budgeted $100 million for three new ferries — one modeled on the Steilacoom II, which was to be built immediately and begin service in May 2009, and two based on the 64-car Island Home ferries used on the East Coast, to be built in 2010.
But if the state dropped the idea of building a Steilacoom II model ferry and instead began pursuing a Island Home model now, Moseley figures there would still be a five-month between the end of Steilacoom II service and the beginning of operation of the first Island Home model.
"There would be a gap of five months with no service, no boat. Would that be acceptable?" Moseley asked the partnership group.
Many shook their heads no.
The situation would lead to extending the 14-month lease on the Steilacoom II, which started in January, from Pierce County.
Moseley said he was uncertain what the next step will be.
"Right now, I'm not sure what to do, but the end step is that there are going to be new boats for Port Townsend and Keystone," he said.
Moseley figures that he will know within two weeks how to proceed with the bid on the ferry project.
No partnership
"We thought there was going to be a partnership with Todd, and there wasn't," Moseley lamented before the group and the more than 50 people attending the meeting.
State ferries system officials opened one bid Thursday morning from Todd Shipyards for $25.98 million while the state engineer's estimated came in at $16.8 million.
"We had a single bid, and it wasn't a comparable bid," Moseley said.
In a letter to Moseley, Todd CEO Stephen Welch said several factors drove up the cost, including prices for the construction materials.
Bids expected from Nichols Bros. Boatbuilders of Whidbey Island and JM Martinac of Tacoma, as well as a consortium proposed by the companies last year did not materialize.
Adjusting the specifications to adjust the bid downward was an option, but all options would be considered, Moseley said.
Construction of the 50-car ferry is scheduled to take about 12 months. The new ferry is expected to begin service in May 2009.
Not working well
Port Townsend Mayor Michelle Sandoval told Moseley that the fact remains that the Steilacoom II was not working well on the Port Townsend-Keystone route because of Admiralty Inlet's frequent rough waters.
"I think that the community would wait for the right boats," Sandoval said, urging state ferries system officials to "think outside the box" and own up to its responsibility to fill the service gap while new boats are built.
Sandoval, a city partnership group representative, said she and Coupeville Mayor Nancy Conyers feared that ferry builders "would hold us over a barrel."
"If they are not going to play fair, then we need to think in a different direction."
The ferry system has no Plan B if the Steilacoom II has to be taken out of service, and that backup plan is needed now, Sandoval said.
Tim Caldwell, Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce general manager, said it was already known that there would be a two-week disruption without ferry service after the vessel goes in for maintenance.
He agreed with Sandoval, saying a backup plan was necessary.
"I think what we're doing at this table is almost scratching the Steilacoom II," Caldwell said.
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Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: March 27. 2008 9:00PM