SEATTLE — A plan to try to save some of Washington’s oldest ferries by cutting them apart and giving them new hulls is the focus of a meeting planned Friday by top state transportation leaders, the state’s biggest shipbuilders and the U.S. Coast Guard.
The gathering at Washington State Ferries headquarters in Seattle will air what ferry officials have begun calling the “transplant option” for addressing problems with the fleet’s 80-year-old Steel Electric class vessels, said Marta Coursey, communications director for the ferry system.
“The idea was captivating and the way it was presented was interesting to people. We decided to fast-track because it was an option” worth studying, Coursey said.
State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond arranged the meeting, Coursey said. Hammond plans in January to present state lawmakers with options for addressing questions about the Klickitat, Illahee, Quinault and Nisqually.
The Steel Electric class vessels are the oldest ferries operating on salt water in the nation. They also are the only ferries small and nimble enough to navigate the challenging harbor at Keystone on the Whidbey Island to Port Townsend run.
The Steel Electrics have been beset this year by cracks, leaks and questions about safety. The Coast Guard this summer ordered stepped up maintenance and inspection. So far, the state has spent more than $4 million on repairs with more anticipated.
The idea of cutting apart some of the vessels and giving them new hulls was first suggested in late October by John Boylston, a shipbuilding and repair consultant hired to provide state lawmakers with new ideas for ferry operations.
Boylston said he thinks it is possible all the Steel Electrics, except the Nisqually, are good candidates for rejuvenation using new hulls. He recommended cutting off the old hulls, saving the upper portions of the ferries, and installing them on newly constructed hulls built to modern standards.
The consultant estimated that each operation could cost about $40 million, cheaper than the $225 million it could cost to build three new vessels. Engineers for the ferry system this summer calculated that it would cost about $30 million apiece to replace all the outer hull plates on the Steel Electrics as well as modify the vessels’ interior structure to meet modern standards.
The Steel Electrics don’t meet federal safety requirements in place since the 1950s. Their hulls, divided into eight water-tight spaces, are not designed to remain afloat if more than one compartment floods. That puts them at greater risk of sinking or capsizing. Modern ferries are designed to remain upright or floating if more than one water-tight space is flooded or damaged.
Previous studies by the ferry system have rejected renovating the Steel Electrics as too costly when compared with building new boats. The vessels have operated since the early 1980s under Coast Guard waivers on hull design.
Coursey said ferry system engineers have been working nonstop since October studying the hull transplant option.
Some who work below decks in the ferry system have privately questioned the idea. The upper decks of the ferries are the least expensive parts of the vessels, and what is there now was built in 1927, before modern standards, including those requiring better access for people with disabilities.
Legislators in 2001 authorized new ferries to replace the Steel Electrics. Instead, ferry officials decided to pursue building larger vessels.
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