King County Ferry District News

It all adds up to the global effort to strengthen bottom lines, safety margins and the collective environmental footprint. The future for ferries seems to be on fire; both in good ways and bad. The good is always a good place to start. And, that’s because it is ferry fabrication time. The most notable ferry routes in America are jumping into the construction queue for new vessels and soon the next generation of ferry vessels will be hitting the piers (not literally of course).

The King County Ferry District, whose ferries link the communities that ring Lake Washington and Puget Sound, has contracted with Bellingham-based All American Marine to design and build two new 'water taxis' to replace its pair of 25 year-old leased vessels. The operators explain that the new vessels will each carry 250 passengers, 78 more than the vessels they will replace. That added capacity means more passengers will be able to use the water taxis during the busiest weekday commute periods.

U.S. Fab, a Vigor Industrial company, has delivered the purpose-built vessel to Washington’s King County for the use of its passenger ferry fleet. The 140’x40’x7’6” barge features moorage for up to four vessels and two steel structures, one that houses a well-equipped maintenance workshop and the other a two-story office and crew quarters. “This was an interesting project that required teams to integrate two different building classification standards while maintaining optimal cost efficiencies,” explained Bryan Nichols, Sales and Marketing Manager for Vigor Industrial.