Eastern Shipbuilding wins $714.5M Washington State Ferries contract
Written by Nick Blenkey
Washington State Gov. Bob Ferguson: "I believe Eastern is the best option to build these critically important vessels at a fair cost to our taxpayers.”
Washington State Gov. Bob Ferguson announced yesterday that he has selected the $714.5 million bid from Florida-based Eastern Shipbuilding Group to build three new 160-vehicle hybrid-electric ferries. Two shipyards had bid for the Washington State Ferries contract, the state’s first competitive bid for ferry construction in more than 25 years.
According to Gov. Ferguson’s office, Eastern’s bid was 6% lower than WSF’s own engineer’s estimate, and significantly lower than the other bidder. Washington State Ferries (WSF) will now move forward with the contracting process.
“We’re restoring domestic service to pre-pandemic levels years ahead of schedule, improving crew retention, and soon will bring our first hybrid-electric vessel into service,” Gov. Ferguson said. “After careful consideration and conversations with legislative leaders, I believe Eastern is the best option to build these critically important vessels at a fair cost to our taxpayers.”
“As we follow Governor Ferguson’s direction to focus on service, it’s exciting, as we restore additional vessels on three routes, to also move forward with constructing new ferries,” said Deputy Transportation Secretary for WSF Steve Nevey.
The Washington State Ferries contract award comes after a comprehensive year-long process of advertising, pre-qualifying shipyards, and answering shipyard requests for clarification.
The shipyard bid is only part of the new build process. There is an additional approximately $150 million for the first vessel for owner-furnished equipment, construction management, WSF crew training, and risk contingencies. This brings the cost of the first vessel to approximately $405 million, the second to $360 million, and the third to $325 million, as contingency risk decreases with lessons learned from each previous construction.
