Terminated

The terminal clock has officially clicked its last tick. After heaps of money and WSF effort, the clock defied being in sync with the ferries. People missed boats or ran down the dock only to find they still had 10 minutes to go. With a green, Washington State Department of Transportation shroud, the clock now looks like a lime lollypop with a tiara.  Surely creative Kingston can do better … “Go Bucs,” a Seahawks logo, a happy face that turns upside down when the boat’s full?  How about a contest?

Mark-up

The white lines that encircle the holding area, across State Route 104 downtown, the sidewalks, parking lot, port fountain, and so on, are there to locate utilities for some paving. But if it’s really the NSA’s (CENSORED) project … consider wearing tinfoil hats when downtown.

Ferry Fees

The legislature bit an unpopular bullet and pushed through new vehicle registration fees. These fees keep the production line going for a third boat to complete replacement of our Evergreen State class boats. This writer thinks that the bill’s funding can also pay for replacing our Super-class ferries and more boats beyond that.

The $5 vehicle registration and $12 title transfer fees, along with the existing 25 cent ferry ticket surcharge, bring in about $27 million a year. To build boats on this budget we need some changes:

• Extend the ferry life beyond sixty years;
• Use commercial equipment and specifications;
• Allow competitive bidding;
• Follow the state Auditor’s recommendations to limit overruns.

OK, let’s unpack these points.

With a 60-year ferry end-of-life, building the third Evergreen State replacement boat and replacing the four Super class boats by 2027 leaves us about $434million short.

Let’s say our ferries were stretched to 70 years. After all, our “steel electric” ferries were bought second-hand from the railroads and lasted eighty years. A 70-year boat life drops the shortfall to about $268 million.

Washington’s shipbuilders have made it clear that WSF’s unique specifications make them expensive and impede leading edge construction. Federal “MILSPECs” were jettisoned 20 years ago for industry standards, such as ISO and American Bureau of Shipping standards.  Instead the feds focused on “performance specifications” that describe what features are supposed to accomplish instead of how they are made. You’re better off with a can of Campbell’s soup than MILSPEC soup  (Trust me about this). So let’s say that using commercial specs saves 10 percent, and brings the shortfall down to about $180 million.

Let’s assume that allowing competitive bids will knock the price down by another 5 percent, that brings the shortfall down to $140 million. Allowing competition also makes us eligible for federal Ferryboat Discretionary funding of which Washington is entitled, by law, to at least $5 million per year (Some states have received as much as $68 million).  Now the shortfall’s down to $30 million.

The state Auditor’s office found that ferry construction costs grew by 10-20 percent after the contract is signed. Let’s say taking the Auditor’s recommendations reduces overruns by 5 percent, and viola! We’re there.

Let’s suppose that we’re still short. There’s something else. When the estimate for a new home is too high we sit down with the builder to see what can be cut out, like the bonus room. This is done in shipbuilding all the time.

Want to build ferries on a beer budget? Extend service life, use industry standards, allow competition, and scale back. Otherwise find a ferry godmother. w

— FerryFare is written by Walt Elliott, chairman of the Kingston Ferry Advisory Committee. Contact him at elliottmoore@comcast.net.