Washington State Ferries Discovers Salt Water Is Not A Steel Preservative

When have you gotten your money back on a ferry purchase? After 20 years? 40? 60? How about 80? Washington State Ferries still had plans to fix at least three 80-year-old ferries before the magnitude of their decay was uncovered. Now, because WSF never imagined the day would come when the ferries would have to be replaced, it'll be a year or more before new ferries can be built and car-ferry service returned.

Our favorite summary of the problem comes from MarineLog:

Washington State Ferries (WSF) is having more problems as a result of its apparent belief that ferries can be kept operating virtually in perpetuity.

The Seattle Times' account is remarkably short on the outrage the situation deserves, reporting coolly that:

It's likely to be a year or more before car-ferry service returns to the Port Townsend-Keystone route after state officials on Monday recommended four aging ferries, sidelined since Nov. 20, should be scrapped, not fixed.

People aren't stranded, as such -- a passenger ferry is in service -- but it's substantially more than an inconvenience. And it was dangerous: "after peeling 70 percent of the ferry's paint, workers discovered nearly half of the boat's steel hull needed to be replaced."

It's just one long, drawn-out "Holy shit!" isn't it? It sounds like passengers were a good storm or a rock and some popped rivets from headlines like the ones about that Senegal ferry. But, to be fair, WSF is a very busy agency and ferries aren't their only -- oh, wait. Right, the ferries are the only thing they're supposed to be managing. Okay, so...who do we talk to about getting the firing started?