Washington Moves to Hire Shipbuilder for 5 New Hybrid Ferries

5 new hybrid-electric ferries need to be built and WSDOT is looking nationwide to make it happen.

Washington State Department of Transportation Needs 5 New Ferries

You may not realize it, but Washington State has the biggest and most active ferry fleet in the entire United States. Over the last few years, aging Washington State ferries have started having more breakdowns leading to service disruptions to important areas of our state. Now WSDOT has started its nationwide search for a shipbuilder to construct 5 new ferries that will be electric-hybrid. On May 31, 2024, WSDOT started collecting qualifications from potential shipbuilders. The qualified candidates approved will submit bids for the large project by the end of the year. Overall the project will cost  $4 billion and have secured $1.68 billion in total funding. $599 million came from the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) passed in 2021, and $1.03 billion from Move Ahead Washington passed by voters in 2022.

New Ferries Are Cleaner, More Reliable, & Financially Sustainable

There are going to be a lot of positives to having 5 new ferries in the Washington State Department of Transportation fleet. The older ferries are getting very expensive and difficult to fix and these new hybrid-electric ferries will be much more financially sustainable. WSDOT says that their working diesel vehicles are one of the biggest polluters of Washington, creating by burning 19 million gallons of diesel fuel each year. They say the 3 biggest reasons the ferries will be so much more economical and healthy are:

• "Hybrid-electric ferries have been in design for over a year and shipbuilders across the country are interested in building these vessels.
• The five new ferries will save approximately 240 million gallons of diesel over their 60-year lifespan.
• Emissions will be reduced from the current 180,000 metric tons to 45,000 metric tons annually systemwide."

Learn more about the new ferries and the process it will take to have them delivered at wsdotblog.blogspot.com.