Car Vessels News

Global shipping should set a goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Norway's government and shipowners' association said on Thursday before talks by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London next week. Norway's fleet is worth about $45 billion, the fifth most valuable in the world behind Japan, Greece, China and the United States. Norway's shipping includes offshore, gas, chemicals, car vessels, dry bulk, crude, crude products and containers. The IMO, which says international shipping represents about 2.2 percent of world carbon dioxide emissions, will meet from April 9-13 to develop a strategy to combat climate change. Shipping was not included in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Domestic ferries adjust their business models to met regulatory pressures and exceed environmental standards with an eye towards improved service. And, not a minute too soon. In North America, stalwarts in the ferry business continue to shorten journey times compared to surface alternatives, while at the same time, bring accessibility to barrier and coastal islands that would otherwise be impossible to reach. Established stakeholders continually fine-tune their operations in a…

The Washington State Department of Transportation’s Ferries Division (WSF) took the next step in the process to build new ferries, opening bids this morning, October 8, on a contract to construct up to three new 64-car vessels. Todd Pacific Shipyards submitted the only bid. Bids were solicited for construction and delivery of two 64-car ferries with an optional third vessel. Todd’s proposed bid price for the first two vessels in the contract was $114m. The WSF engineer’s estimate is $109.9m. The timeline for vessel construction is approximately 20 months each for the first two vessels. The decision to exercise the option to add the construction of a third vessel will be made no later than May 31, 2011.

WSDOT Ferries Division took the next step today in the process to build new ferries for the Port Townsend/Keystone route. WSDOT opened bids on Nov. 13, on a contract to construct up to two new 64-car vessels based on the Island Home design. The formal bid opening was held at 11:00 a.m at Ferries Division headquarters in Seattle. WSDOT received one bid from Todd Pacific Shipyards. Bids were solicited for construction and delivery of one or two 64-auto ferries. Todd’s proposed bid price is $124,450,559 for two vessels and $65,487,328 for one vessel. The WSDOT engineer’s estimate is $95,943,865 for two vessels and $49,452,894 for one vessel.

Gov. Chris Gregoire announced that the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will move forward with construction of two 64-car Home style vessels and will not build a smaller 50-car vessel. WSDOT no longer plans to build a 50-car Steilacoom II style vessel, which was originally intended to fill the gap in service until the two Island Homes were built. Instead, WSDOT reached agreement with to extend the lease on one of the County’s ferries until new vessels can be built for the route. Home style ferry is ready for service in spring 2010. WSDOT is working toward building five new ferries – three 144-car vessels and two new 60-car Home style vessels.

WSDOT Ferries Division announced the apparent low bidder for a contract to construct a new 50-car vessel based on the Steilacoom II design. The formal bid opening was held March 27. One bid was received from Todd Pacific Shipyards. The proposed bid price is $25,985,125. The WSDOT engineer’s estimate is $16.8m. WSDOT will conduct a bid evaluation over the next few days before announcing an award recommendation. Construction of the 50-car ferry is scheduled to take approximately 12 months. The new ferry is expected to begin service in May 2009. The ferry system is building six new ferries over the next four years. Later this year, WSDOT will begin a separate procurement process for two more vessels that will carry between 60 to 80 cars.

The AP has reported that two shipyards that want to build four 144-car vessels for Washington State Ferries have filed protests with the state Transportation Department, complaining that state officials are making it difficult for them to bid on the project. Todd Pacific Shipyards and J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding say the state seeks to dictate the new ferries' design — a violation of the statute governing the design-build partnership process — while assigning all risks to the bidder. Both companies have been approved by the state to bid on the four-ferry contract. State Transportation said the shipyards were in on early discussions about the design-build contract provisions, and supported the increased risk assumption. The protest letters were sent Oct.

State ferry authorities say population and job growth in the central Puget Sound area are expected to reverse a recent trend and increase ridership on their vessels by 70 percent over the next 25 years and require spending an additional $400m on new boats. Now the state will have to figure out how to pay for that expansion. The number of fares sold on Washington State Ferries totaled just under 24 million last year, down about 10 percent from 2000, according to the Seattle Post Intelligencer. But population growth in Kitsap and Island counties is expected to outstrip the number of new jobs, whereas in King County the reverse will be true. This means that more people will commute from the west side of the Sound to the Seattle area to work.

The ferries which operate the lifeline route to the Northern Isles were branded as two of the most inefficient vessels built in recent years in a new academic study, the Scotsman reported. The Napier University's Maritime Research Group report claimed that the two NorthLink ferries, which currently sail the route between Aberdeen and Orkney and Shetland, the Hjaltland and the Hrossey, should be replaced by larger and more cost-effective boats. And the research group also suggested that the move to larger vessels would require the ferries to dock at Peterhead instead of Aberdeen when they reach the mainland because the Granite City's harbor would be too small to accommodate them.