Kitsap Transit awarded $13.5 million federal grant for new fast ferry

(The Center Square) – Kitsap Transit is set to receive $13.5 million in federal funding to replace the aging fast ferry that serves the Kingston-Seattle route.

The funding comes from the Federal Transit Administration’s Passenger Ferry Grant program, covering almost 80% of the $17.5 million cost to purchase a replacement vessel. Kitsap Transit is contributing about $4 million.

“This funding allows us to buy a new boat to operate a route that has been running with a backup vessel – M/V Finest – that is older and has had to go out of service repeatedly for multiple issues,” Executive Director John Clauson said in a news release .

The agency had to suspend sailings on the route for five days due to a breakdown.

The 349-passenger Finest – its hull and engines at or near the end of their useful life – suffered a water jet malfunction last month, forcing Kitsap Transit to temporarily halt the Kingston-Seattle route.

To extend the functional lifespan of the Finest would cost between $14 million and $17 million, according to Kitsap Transit.

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., helped secure federal funding for a new ferry.

Cantwell – who is chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation – wrote a July letter to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in support of the grant application.

“More than 270,000 Kitsap County residents count on the ferry system to get them to work, school, doctor appointments, sports and cultural events, and more. This grant will replace a 25-year-old fast ferry that broke down just last month with a new eco-friendly vessel on the Kingston-Seattle route,” Cantwell said in a news release.

According to a January report put out by the agency, Kitsap Transit’s passenger-only ferries carried more than 1 million passengers in 2023, a 37% jump over ridership in 2022, as demand rebounded after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kitsap Transit expects to carry more passengers this year, as its fast ferry system transported 40,800 more riders in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the first quarter of 2023.

But it will be several years before a new ferry can be put into service.

"We need to finalize the vessel's specifications, receive the Kitsap Transit Board's permission to go out for construction bids, advertise the bids, award a contract, wait for shipyard availability, and manage any issues that arise during the construction of a new vessel," explained Sanjay Bhatt, Kitsap Transit's marketing and public information director.

Another factor: Initiative 2117 to overturn the state's nascent Climate Commitment Act that requires the Department of Ecology to hold carbon allowance auctions. Voters will decide I-2117 this November.

"The outcome of Initiative 2117 would have a definite impact on future revenue for transit projects, so that impact would also need to be taken into consideration," Bhatt said.

According to the Department of Ecology's website , carbon auction revenue is eligible to go to emissions reductions programs for ferries.

A new ferry would incorporate cleaner diesel engines and could resemble Kitsap Transit’s bow-loading vessels Enetai and Commander, each with a 250-passenger capacity.

"Once a new vessel is delivered, we typically need several months for testing, Coast Guard certification, and crew training before it's ready to put into service," Bhatt continued, adding that a new ferry wouldn't set sail until at least 2027.

The aluminum-hulled catamaran fast passenger ferry Finest has something of a storied history.

It was built at Derecktor Shipyards in 1997 for New York Fast Ferry Services. Finest is a former NY Waterway vessel that, at one point, provided service from the Massachusetts mainland to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

The ship is perhaps best known for helping to evacuate lower Manhattan during the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on New York City that saw terrorists fly commercial airliners into the World Trade Center. It was the second vessel to arrive on the scene.

Kitsap Transit has owned and operated the vessel on a Kingston-Seattle route since 2018.