Fourth modern ferry in works in Seattle
Published 12:01 am Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Peninsula Daily News news sources
OLYMPIA — Washington State Ferries is adding a fourth modern ferry to replace its aging fleet.
State officials announced Monday that Vigor Industrial will begin building the $122 million Olympic Class ferry at its Seattle shipyard next month.
It is scheduled to be done by mid-2018.
Public comment is being sought on the name of the ferry.
The Tokitae, Samish, Chimacum and the fourth as-yet-unnamed ferry replace four of the state’s oldest ferries, all built during the 1950s and 1960s.
The new ferries can carry 144 vehicles. Officials say they are more fuel-efficient than the ferries they replace, as well as being quieter and have cleaner-burning engines to reduce emissions.
They’ll have wider lanes for cars and the latest emergency systems.
The first vessel in the class, Tokitae, joined the Mukilteo/Clinton route in June 2014.
The second, Samish, was put into service on the Anacortes/San Juans Island route last June.
Chimacum, the third ferry, will replace one of the older vessels on the Seattle/Bremerton route in 2017.
The fourth ferry has not been assigned a route yet, said Brian Mannion, state ferries spokesman.
Name in March
The Washington State Transportation Commission is expected to provide Washington State Ferries with a name for the new ferry by March.
In 2014, the commission conducted a name search that resulted in four eligible name proposals.
The commission selected the name Chimacum for one of the ferries, leaving three names that are still eligible: Cowlitz, Sammamish and Suquamish.
The commission is taking public comment now at transc@wstc.wa.gov.
For more information, see http://tinyurl.com/PDN-ferryname.
The commission will discuss the three names at its Jan. 12-13 meeting in Olympia. It will make a final selection March 15-16.
