Kitsap Transit's board of commissioners voted last week to purchase two bow-loading passenger-only ferries that will someday connect Kingston and Southworth to Seattle.
The board voted to award the contract for design and construction of the bow-loaders to Nichols Bros Boat Builders, a Whidbey Island-based shipyard that recently completed the renovation of the M/V Finest. The total cost for both vessels is just less than $23.5 million, or about $11.75 million each.
The bow-loaders are slated to become the full-time ferries for the Kingston route — which launched Nov. 26 — and the Southworth route, which is anticipated to begin in 2020.
In April, Kitsap Transit requested bids for the design and construction of high-speed ferries that could also fit the car slips at Washington State Ferries docks. In addition, the bow-loaders needed to be able to meet certain speed, noise and seakeeping requirements.
Four shipyards submitted bids: All-American Marine in Bellingham, Vigor Kvichak LLC in Seattle, Metal Shark in Louisiana and Nichols Brothers.
Kitsap Transit staff and two outside marine industry experts reviewed the proposals. Shipyards were scored on production capabilities, experience, financial capacity and references, Kitsap Transit spokesman Sanjay Bhatt said.
The committee reviewed the shipyard's technical proposals and price. Nichols Bros had the highest score, meaning it represented the "best value" to Kitsap Transit, according to an agency memo.
Nichols Bros was founded in 1964 in Freeland. The company built the superstructure for the Tokitae, the WSF ferry on the Mukilteo-Clinton route, and has worked on high-speed catamarans in use in San Francisco, Southern California and Alaska.
Earlier this month, Kitsap Transit's board approved a plan that will allow the agency to lend itself $3.4 million from its reserves on the bus side of the books to help finance the bow-loaders.
The move was due to the cost of construction coming in higher than expected. In 2017, when Kitsap Transit's board approved the issuing of $45 million in bonds to purchase fast ferries, the estimate for the bow-loaders was about $9 million per vessel.
The increase is due to several factors, Kitsap Transit financial director Paul Shinners said in an email. Consultants based the first estimate on a similar ferry built 2016. Since then, aluminum and steel prices have risen due to tariffs and a strong economy.
Part of the increase is related to specific emission standards that were not required when the estimate was being put together.
Kitsap Transit also underestimated the added cost of "additional speed of a larger vessel and seakeeping design specific to Kingston and Southworth routes," Shinners said.
Nichols Bros has proposed a timeline of 307 days to build the first bow-loader and 443 days for the second.
