By
Bill Becken |
In early 2008, Washington State Ferries (WSF) acquired a new director. And many would say a new lease on life on the newbuild programme. David Moseley, Department of Transport assistant secretary, ferry system executive, career civil servant, former manager of three state cities and previously, Seattle’s director of community development. When Moseley took up his post the company’s fleet was an aging one and four 1920s-era ferries were withdrawn from service due to safety concerns.
Following a quick replacement with three new vessels – after Moseley essentially managed to formalise a capital spending programme – the state funded the construction of two Olympic-class, 144-car ferries, to a budget of US$279.4 million. The first of these is under construction at Vigor Shipyard in Seattle and due to begin service in early 2014, while building of second starts in December 2012, with two more to built this decade if funding is identified. But the challenge is finding a sustainable, long-term revenue source for capital needs over the next 10 to 20 years. Moseley explains: “We are fortunate to have three new vessels in service, with two more on the way. However, we have an entire fleet that needs maintaining and eventually replaced in the next two decades. The ferry system needs dedicated revenue to make that happen.”
Producing not only high quality vessels in Washington for Washington, but promising a major capital programme, has gone a long way toward restoring public trust and confidence in the system,” Mosely says. “It means getting new ferries authorised, completed on time, within budget and into service.”
He adds: “We remain at the outer limits for the foreseeable future of what we can receive by way of increased fares,” he says. “If we can regain some of the ridership loss we’ve experienced in the last few years, our revenue would increase. In any case, the system needs to be financially sustainable to continue providing the level of service that customers have come to expect today. We never want to be in a situation again where we’re operating 80-year-old boats on some of our most difficult routes. A capital subsidy is critical to fulfilling the needs of the system.”
WSF is looking at other ways to reduce costs and gain efficiencies too. The firm is exploring the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel for propulsion, believing it may significantly reduce costs and can have a positive environmental effect. “Fuel is the fastest-growing cost of WSF operations,” says Moseley. “It’s grown much faster than anything else. In 2000, fuel was 10 per cent of WSF’s operating costs and today it’s nearly 30 per cent. We know LNG has been adopted by other ferry services globally and we think it has great potential for ours as well. We are working with our partners in the industry and the US Coast Guard on the possibility that LNG could fuel some of our fleet.”
On maintaining the public’s trust and confidence, Moseley is emphatic that both accountability and transparency are important: “You demonstrate to customers that you are making the best use of the state’s resources. And you communicate. For me, that means riding the boats, going to ferry-dependent communities, talking to customers, community groups and locally elected officials.
“Most people can see I’m a cards-on-the-table kind of person,” he says. “So people are going to know what I know pretty much as soon as I do. That’s the kind of transparency I expect to be held accountable for.”