WSF’s bulletin this week included drawing of the new hybrid Olympic Class ferries. At the same time, the RIF was released, which included some very interesting information. All Olympic Class ferries are not going to be alike:

WSF contracted with a naval architecture firm, Elliott Bay Design Group, to refine the functional design that has been in development over the past two years and attain USCG approval.  These refinements will significantly improve vessel performance and reduce lifecycle costs. Most notable is the addition of a forty-seven-foot (47’) midbody extension to improve the vessel general arrangements and reduce powering requirements.  (Bolding mine.) WSF has also selected ABB, Inc. to serve as the Propulsion Single Source Vendor (PSSV) to support functional design, equipment selection and procurement, system integration and oversight.  In the coming weeks, WSF will issue a Single Source Request For Proposal (RFP) for the PSSV Contract. The PSSV RFP will be posted on the WSF Contracts website.  The vessel characteristics and performance targets are outlined in the section below.  

Vessel Characteristics: 

• Double-ended vehicle and passenger ferry for at least 144 autos and 1500 passengers.  
• Steel Construction  
• Hybrid battery-diesel electric propulsion with automated shoreside charging system.  
• Fixed shaft line and fixed pitch propellers.  
• L.O.A. – 407’- 3”  
• Breadth – 83’- 2”  
• Draft, Subdivision – 18” 0”  
• Displacement – 4850 LTSW  
• Transit speed – 16 Kt (Battery Only)  
• Charge Time – 20 minutes, including connection and disconnection time.  

These boats are going to be much more versatile for any ferry route in the fleet, with an added capacity, in theory, of about 20ish cars, so they’ll be closer to 166 car ferries. I do note that they include a bit of an “out” saying “at least 144 cars” in case safety equipment, et cetra, ends up taking up more space than anticipated. We all know this can happen as the number of cars has dwindled on the existing fleet over the years as USCG safety measures have increased over the years.

In other news…

…the Walla Walla and Chimacum are moving along in repairs and should be rejoining the fleet soon, much to the relief of folks on the Edmonds-Kingston run who have been dealing with one boat service for well over a month.

The Salish has been bouncing around filling in where possible, but the limitations of those boats off the Keystone and Point Defiance routes becomes all-too evident when they’re placed anywhere else. I have no qualms saying they are probably the mostly rigidly limited boats to sail for WSF since the Kalakala. Given that they’re nearly the same dimensions, this should not be a surprise. (Salish & Sisters 274 x 64 x 11 and the Kalakala 276 x 56 x 16.)

What is it with the Vashon ferries…

…that seem to shun photographers?

This is one of two photo postcards I’ve ever seen of the Skansonia. One is a black and white Smith card, and then there’s this one, a nice color postcard taken in the 60’s. For a vessel that sailed on the same route from 1951-1967, you’d think there would be more than two postcards of her!

But it gets worse!

Try finding postcards of the Klahowya, which was the on the north end of Vashon Island for over fifty years. I’ve seen a total off four, maybe five–ones a sunset shot that is impossible to identify the ferry.

Same for the Quinault, which ran at Vashon for over 30 years.

I’m not sure why–there’s a lovely vantage point from Lincoln Park in West Seattle to take photos of the ferries as they come in and out of Fauntleroy. But for whatever reason, no one seems to bother. I haven’t found many photos of the Issaquah, which has been at Vashon for several decades now, either.

Back on the south end, there are a few postcards of the Olympic and the Rhododendron… wait, I’ll have to check on that about the Rhody. I know two of the Olympic for sure.

But the Hiyu? Good luck–I’ve only ever seen one black and white postcard.

In some more good news…

…the Issaquah class got 4.8 million dollars in federal funds to rehab the passenger cabins. Or probably more correction, preservation work. That usually translates to “new steel.”

Irritatingly, in nearly every story on this subject, the wrong ferry was pictured, either and Olympic or a Super Class ferry. Grrr! Do your research, people!

In not so good news…

It’ll be 2024 before the Coastal Renaissance will be back in service. March 2024, B.C. Ferries is hoping.

The vessel, out since August, kept having the time for its return pushed back.

Not mincing words…

…Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski urger Alaska governor Dunlevy to come up with the funds for the Alaska Marine Highway which Murkowski described as being in a “death spiral.”

It will be interesting to see how Dunlevy, who, upon taking office in 2018, immediately cut ferry funding in half, and seems, if not outwardly hostile toward the ferry service, utterly indifferent.

Audit! Audit!

State Senator Susan Moran would like to have an audit of the Steamship Authority to, as she is quoted in the Vineyard Gazette, “identify the current weaknesses of the authority as well as provide transparency and effective oversight.”

Like all ferry systems around the world, the Steamship Authority has been having issues with the lack of licensed mariners and mechanical issues just like everyone else.

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