First bid on new ferry is $9 million over estimate

Todd Pacific Shipyards of Seattle has submitted a bid to build a 50-car vessel for Washington State Ferries, transportation officials said Thursday.

But Todd's proposed bid price of $25,985,125 to construct a ferry based on the Steilacoom II design was higher than the $16.8 million estimated by state engineers.

State Transportation Department officials said the nearly 90-year-old ship-repair and boat builder, based on Harbor Island, is the only respondent so far to a formal bidding process that opened today.

The state will continue to accept bids over the next few days before announcing an award.

"While I am disappointed that the bid came in higher than our estimate, we will take a close look at the bid and keep moving forward to build a new 50-car ferry," said David Moseley, assistant secretary at the Transportation Department.

Several factors drove up the cost, Todd Chief Executive Stephen Welch wrote in a letter to Moseley, including prices for the construction materials.

Construction of the 50-car ferry, which would run between Port Townsend and Keystone, is expected to take about 12 months, with service beginning in May 2009.

Thursday's bidding kicked off a four-year process of building six vessels to replace the state's aging fleet. The state is expected later this year to begin a separate procurement process for two more ferries that will carry between 60 to 80 cars. The two new vessels will replace the retired Steel-Electric class ferries, and could be in service by June 2010 and December 2010.

Three new 144-car ferries are also planned, with construction beginning by next year, officials said. The first 144-car ferry is expected to be in service by early 2011.