1 bid to build Port Townsend ferry — and it's $9 million over state's estimate

The sole bid for building a new 50-car ferry to run between Port Townsend and Keystone came in at least $9 million over the state's estimate today.

Todd Shipyards bid nearly $26 million to build the ferry.

Washington State Ferries had estimated the cost would be between $13 million and $17 million.

It's not clear what the high bid means, but David Moseley, ferries director, said he was disappointed by the bid.

"We'll have to evaluate it and look through it carefully. "We hoped there would have been more than one bidder and within the engineer's estimate."

Regardless, said Moseley, the boat will get built. The state could reject the bid and negotiate with Todd to try to bring down the costs.

Plans call for the bid to be awarded Wednesday.

But Steve Welch, head of Todd Shipyards, said his company tried to get the costs as low as possible. He thought the state's estimate was too low.

The ferry will be built nearly identical to the Steilacoom II, owned by Pierce County and now loaned to the state for the Port Townsend-Keystone route. Welch said that boat was $12.5 million, but he believes it actually cost much more to build. The shipyard that built it, Nichols Brothers, went bankrupt. Todd was a subcontractor on that boat.

Welch said there are many other factors driving up the cost, primarily the edict that the boat be built by May 2009 or the shipyard will face a $6,000-a-day fine.

"We're sobered by $6,000 a day," Welch said.

Other factors that drove up the cost were changes in safety, design and equipment. Further, there are higher material and labor costs.

The Washington Legislature this year appropriated $84.5 million to build three new boats to replace the 80-year-old Steel Electric Class vessels that were pulled out of service in November because of damaged hulls.

Bids were to have been opened last week, but the process was delayed a week after the state changed its mind about what kind of boats will be built for the Port Townsend route.

Initially the state had planned to build three 50-car ferries, using a design crafted by Elliott Bay Design and used to build two Pierce County ferries, including the Steilacoom II.

Instead of building three of the 50-car boats, the state will build one of those and two using an Island Home design. Those ferries are used in New England and serve Martha's Vineyard. The Island Home is also by Elliott Bay Design.

Had the state sought bids on three identical ferries, the price likely would have been lower, Welch said.

Hadley Greene, a ferry spokeswoman, said the Island Home is larger than the Pierce County boats, holding 60-80 cars and 1,200 passengers, and Port Townsend residents and legislators were lobbying for a bigger boat. Further, she said, the Island Home boats are more stable and more like the Steel Electric ferries pulled from service.

Ferry officials have estimated that the two Island Home boats will cost about $30 million each. Plans call for the second and third boats to be completed in 2010.

The contract for the new boat was open to any Washington shipyard, and ferry officials had expected a bid from Everett Shipyards. But that didn't happen.

Welch said Todd has turned down jobs to keep the shipyard clear to build the new state ferry.

And if the state wants to try to renegotiate the price?

"If the customer asks to talk to us, we'll be happy to," he said.

Today's bid opening was the first time since 1995 that the state has put out bids to build a new ferry. In 1995, the state opened bids for the Mark II fleet, which includes the Wenatchee, Puyallup and Tacoma ferries.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com