All state ferries to undergo immediate emergency inspection

[Mrs. Overall]

SEATTLE -- The safety of Washington state ferries is going under the microscope.

With the support of state officials, the U.S. Coast Guard ordered each of the 12 ferries to be inspected over the next eight days after two more boats were discovered with pitting in the steel plating. The Coast Guard says there's a lot riding on these vessels and there's no time to waste.

Coast Guard Lt. Comdr. Todd Howard says the problems surfaced during routine examinations of the Chelan and the Kitsap ferries. "We were seeing some corrosion issues in hulls in some of the other ferries, the other classes besides the steel electrics," he said.

The steel electrics have already been yanked from service for similar problems.

Ferry officials say what the Coast Guard ordered is an aggressive inspection schedule that could be hard to meet. "The deadline we were given is the 23rd of December. That is a logistical challenge given the nature of our fleet," said Mike Lacroix, a senior port engineer with the state ferry system.

http://www.komotv.com/news/12535401.html

It looks like the problem isn't just the Port Townsend/Keystone ferries. For those of us dependent on the ferry system, I'm glad the safety problems are being addressed, but hope it won't be too much of a headache, and hopefully it won't result in higher fares.

[uppityperson]

1. Having aging ferries being part of the highway system is a problem

Nope, not just us here in PT, but many other boats are aging also. Many people are reliant upon them to get to work, to get home from work, to get people to their work, etc.

[flamingyouth]

2. I hope they won't find problems with too many more boats.

Oh, and I love how Rossi came out the other day and said that the state had the $ to pay for new ferries and Gregoire had dropped the ball here.:eyes:

Of course if she'd had new boats built, she'd have been a crazy-spending liberal.