Bids for five new hybrid ferries come in high
Ferry system managers and state budget writers in Washington took a cold wave over the bow Monday upon opening the bids to construct up to five new hybrid electric ferries.
“I don’t see how you get to five. There’s money for three on a good day,” said state House Transportation Committee Chair Jake Fey, D-Tacoma.
The Washington Legislature previously set aside about $1.3 billion to build new ferries and charging infrastructure over the next six to eight years. New vessels are overdue to stabilize the state’s aging and sometimes unreliable ferry fleet. Simultaneously, the ferry system and the state’s Democratic leadership want to reduce the ferries’ air pollution footprint by switching to battery propulsion as much as possible.
Eastern Shipbuilding Group of Panama City, Florida, submitted the low bid for the state’s desired plug-in hybrid, 160-car vessels, according to a summary of the bids posted by WSF late on Monday. The $251 million price tag for the first ferry in the series was roughly in line with the state engineer’s in-house estimate.
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/bids-for-five-new-hybrid-ferries-come-in-high/