Ferries, Ferries, and still more Ferries

[CHamilton]

Feds award money for water ferry commuter service from Alexandria to Southeast D.C.

The federal government awarded the Northern Virginia Regional Commission $3.38 million this week to buy two ferries to move passengers from Alexandria to Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Southeast Washington.


The money will create new options for thousands of military and federal employees traveling to the base and to the St. Elizabeths Hospital campus, where the U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to place its headquarters, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration said in its award notice....
Northern Virginia transit officials have long hoped to create a robust series of water ferries to alleviate transit congestion on the trains, subways and highways across the Washington region.

In the fall, the NVRC heard a consultant’s report that such routes were economically viable, although operating costs would be about $6.4 million per year without taking into account the cost of terminals, docks, dredging or land transportation connections.

The money is part of the FTA’s $123 million in grants for passenger ferry projects and ferry operators, $60 million of which is in competitive funds for 26 projects in 13 states and Puerto Rico, including the Alexandria-to-D.C. ferry.

 

[jimhudson]

St. Elizabeth's is the perfect place for Homeland Security to have its Headquarters!

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Feds award money for water ferry commuter service from Alexandria to Southeast D.C.

The federal government awarded the Northern Virginia Regional Commission $3.38 million this week to buy two ferries to move passengers from Alexandria to Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Southeast Washington.


The money will create new options for thousands of military and federal employees traveling to the base and to the St. Elizabeths Hospital campus, where the U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to place its headquarters, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration said in its award notice....
Northern Virginia transit officials have long hoped to create a robust series of water ferries to alleviate transit congestion on the trains, subways and highways across the Washington region.

In the fall, the NVRC heard a consultant’s report that such routes were economically viable, although operating costs would be about $6.4 million per year without taking into account the cost of terminals, docks, dredging or land transportation connections.

The money is part of the FTA’s $123 million in grants for passenger ferry projects and ferry operators, $60 million of which is in competitive funds for 26 projects in 13 states and Puerto Rico, including the Alexandria-to-D.C. ferry.

I'm guessing these new ferries will leave from Old Town? If so, since there is no parking in Old Town, no Metro stop nearby (King St. station is a mile away), and the only bus service at this time is either the King St. Trolley or local Alexandria DASH service which stops over two blocks away, I'm wondering what they plan to do to make this work.

Did the same folks who came up with how to implement BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) with its falsified traffic studies that allowed for the massive relocation of thousands and thouands of jobs (more than are at The Pentagon) to be relocated to Ft. Belvoir, where there is no public transportation, therefore forcing many former Metro commuters to start driving to work, come up with this?

EDIT: Here is a link to an article at WTOP that has some additional information. From the article:

Getting the ferry service off the ground is not a huge technologically complex issue that some would think. But growing it and sustaining it will be more difficult.And that will require more partners to climb onboard, he [Prince William County - The county south of Faifax County on the potomac River - Supervisor Frank Principi] says.

"Be it the military, local and state government and private sector to sustain the launch of the service," he adds.

Principi says the reason it should be up and running within a year is because, "We don't want to pick locations that require extensive dredging and environmental issues. We want to pick clean environmentally sound locations possibly with a floating dock."

He adds that there are opportunities for a floating dock on the waterfront in Alexandria.

Principi says the ferry didn't come about overnight.

"The U.S. Navy, the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Maritime Administration and local operators have been meeting for the better part of 18 to 24 months and have conducted the third of three studies. We've been studying this issue, the technical feasibility, the economic feasibility for some time now," he says.

Additionally, he says the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is very interested in the possibility of having ferry service from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to and from points in D.C. possibly using a floating dock.

He says he is confident the ferry service will be successful especially, "once we get boats into the water and demonstrate that this is a viable alternative to I-95."

The NVRC is the financial administrator for the grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the commission will oversee the ferry service.

With the mess I-95 is in Virginia, high speed ferries from points south of DC could become popular and competitive with driving, much the same way VRE 'took off' when it was introduced - but the ALX service will need to be pretty 'seemless' to gain riders, IMHO.

 

[Anderson]

How far downriver would you be thinking for something like that? Somewhere in the vein of Woodbridge or Occoquan (which I have likely butchered the spelling of)?

 

[NS VIA Fan]

Thanks for that info. That Princess of Acadia sure has some beautiful classic lines.....looks like a mini ocean liner, much sleeker than the newer ferries with their boxy car carrier look.....

Yes the Princess of Acadia does have some nice classic lines and is reminiscent of other Canadian Pacific built ferries through the years compared to the more utilitarian Canadian National boats.

Heres the former CNR Holiday Island now operated by Northumberland Ferries between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.......looks like a Parking Garage that floated out to sea!

And the Marine Atlantic Ferries to Newfoundland:

The Atlantic Vision is used on the 14 hour Argentia run and is more of a cruise with cabins, lounges and buffet dining.

But the Highlanders is very boxy and made to move volumes of traffic on the 5 hour crossing to Port-aux-Basques. It has over 2.85 kilometers of lane length on its decks with a capacity of 500 cars (or in combination with trucks)

......Update: I took the above Marine Atlantic photos last Saturday but what a difference a week makes!.....Whats left of Hurricane Arthur is hitting us now and has every ferry in the Maritimes tied-up for today!

 

[railiner]

More great photo's....I really appreciate your posting them here!

Highlander is awful looking aesthetically, but I suppose beautiful in a functional sort of way....

These make me think of the ship my Prius came to Port Newark on....http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/details/ships/563710000/vesselOLARIS_LEADER

If you 'Google' the ship's name, there are some great video's on youtube showing the ship in operation...

 

[NS VIA Fan]

Highlander is awful looking aesthetically, but I suppose beautiful in a functional sort of way....

These make me think of the ship my Prius came to Port Newark on....http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/details/ships/563710000/vesselOLARIS_LEADER......

Will this be Marine Atlantic’s next ferry conversion??......now wouldn’t that put a dent into the long summer line-ups in North Sydney!

(thanks for the link.....I occasionally see similar vehicle carriers at AutoPort in Halifax)

>>>>>>>>>>>

The Highlanders (photo above) and it sister ship the Blue Puttees were acquired by Marine Atlantic in 2010. They’re the former Stena Traveller and Stena Trader and underwent a major conversion with passenger decks added and a 40 ft section cut out of the centre of their hulls so they could maneuver better in the harbour at Port-aux-Basques. Cool time-lapse video here:

http://www.stenaroro.com/activities/Pages/StenaTraderShortening.aspx

 

[railiner]

Thanks for that....You usually hear of cruiseships being lengthened, but that's the first passenger carrying vessel I've heard of being shortened.....

Yes....If ships like the Polaris Leader could be used by Marine Atlantic, there would never be a car left behind. But then again, how long would it take to load and unload that beast?

 

[NS VIA Fan]

Yes the Princess of Acadia does have some nice classic lines and is reminiscent of other Canadian Pacific built ferries through the years compared to the more utilitarian Canadian National boats.

After 44 years of service between Saint John and Digby......It looks like the Princess Of Acadia is going to be replaced and the most likely successor will be the Blue Star Lines Ithaki currently operating in Greece.

 

[CHamilton]

Iconic ferry Kalakala to be scrapped

The long, and somewhat wayward journey of the old ferry Kalakala, is about to come to an end.

The Tacoma News Tribune reports the ferry's current owner plans to have the old ferry scrapped later this month in Tacoma.
The ferry has been sitting in Tacoma's Hylebos Waterway for over three years, most of the time at moorage owned by Tacoma Industrial Properties. The company constructed a 650-foot-long structure and volunteered to temporarily moor the vessel.
In December 2011, U.S. Coast Guard officials declared the 276-foot Kalakala a hazard to navigation as it sat parked at the Hylebos Waterway due to unsuitable mooring and advanced degradation of the ship's hull.
It got worse a month later when a storm left the ferry listing to one side, prompting fears it would sink and block the waterway. That summer, Tacoma Industrial Properties moved it to safer moorage.

 

[rickycourtney]

The Kalakala was a beautiful ship in her day. It's a shame that she will have to meet the blowtorch.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

That sucks, it must have been really nice to travel on back when it was in service.

What's the most scenic ferry ride in the region? Preferably with an interesting destination on the other end.

Thanks.

 

[Bob Dylan]

That sucks, it must have been really nice to travel on back when it was in service.

What's the most scenic ferry ride in the region? Preferably with an interesting destination on the other end.

Thanks.

The ferry to the San Juan Islands from Amntacortes ( Vehicle/ Passenger)is a great trip in the Summer and also to Victoria on Vancouver Island ( you can go on the passenger ferry from Seattle also) is a great trip too!

From Seattle taking the ferry

to Bainbridge Island for lunch is a nice day trip!!

 

[CHamilton]

The Kalakala rides to its deconstruction in Tacoma, but wait just a second

 

[BCL]

That sucks, it must have been really nice to travel on back when it was in service.

What's the most scenic ferry ride in the region? Preferably with an interesting destination on the other end.

Thanks.

The ferry to the San Juan Islands from Amntacortes ( Vehicle/ Passenger)is a great trip in the Summer and also to Victoria on Vancouver Island ( you can go on the passenger ferry from Seattle also) is a great trip too!

From Seattle taking the ferry

to Bainbridge Island for lunch is a nice day trip!!

I've only done the Bainbridge Island-Seattle route after visiting the Olympic Peninsula. The best part was that there's no passenger fee in this direction, although the vehicle with driver fee is the same.

There's also a private company with a ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria.

https://www.cohoferry.com/

 

[CHamilton]

After two weeks of demolition, iconic ferry Kalakala is gone

 

[CHamilton]

Fort Lauderdale man trying to start daily Marathon-to-Cuba ferry service

With travel restrictions to Cuba eased since last year, a Fort Lauderdale-based company is looking to start a ferry service from the Marathon City Marina to Havana, Cuba, by the end of the year.
Catamaran broker Brian Hall, owner of KonaCat, said he's confident he can get clearance for his 200-passenger catamaran to travel from the Florida Keys to Cuba twice a day. He hasn't decided the number of days a week it would run. A four-hour one-way trip would cost $169 or ($338 round trip).

 

[fairviewroad]

Fort Lauderdale man trying to start daily Marathon-to-Cuba ferry service

With travel restrictions to Cuba eased since last year, a Fort Lauderdale-based company is looking to start a ferry service from the Marathon City Marina to Havana, Cuba, by the end of the year.
Catamaran broker Brian Hall, owner of KonaCat, said he's confident he can get clearance for his 200-passenger catamaran to travel from the Florida Keys to Cuba twice a day. He hasn't decided the number of days a week it would run. A four-hour one-way trip would cost $169 or ($338 round trip).

Interesting idea. Might work better if paired with a bus service from the Miami metro area. But the overall price would have to be low in order to compete with air travel between South Florida and Cuba.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I was thinking he should be running from Key West. Well I hope sea travel is the one that requires minimal subsides, as it doesn't use rails, roads, or airports, and the port facilities shouldn't be that expensive.

 

[railiner]

I would like to see a carferry service restored between Key West and Havana... Cuba is large enough to warrant a motor trip to really explore it...

I remember when Greyhound sold thru tickets from New York to Havana via Key West in the fifties.....GL to Key West, thence the ferry....

 

[fairviewroad]

I suspect Marathon is a favored launching point because it's 55 miles closer (by highway) to Miami than Key West is.

A round-tripper would save 110 miles of driving. Also, I'd imagine the cost of doing business in Key West would

be higher than in Marathon. And really, does Key West need more people heading down there when it has a thriving

tourism industry as it is? I suspect the city of Marathon might find it worthwhile to encourage this ferry operation.

As far as the cost, this guy is saying $338 round-trip. I suspect once the Cuba-US market is completely opened up (as

it inevitably will) we are going to see airfare between MIA/FLL and Cuba routinely be as low as $200 r/t. It's a short,

high-demand flight. There's no way that a slow, $300+ ferry ride is going to be profitable.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

He could certainly make the ferry cheaper. I doubt ferries are particular expensive to operate because they're slow and fuel efficient.

 

[CHamilton]

BC Ferries should return to being government-controlled: Petitioner

More than 20,000 people have signed a petition urging the provincial government to take back control of BC Ferries.

The petition will be presented at the B.C. legislature on Tuesday.

Chair of the Strathcona Regional District, Jim Abram has been a driving force behind the petition.

He told The Early Edition the current BC Ferries governance has failed, and it's time to put the transportation ministry back in charge.

"This isn't just important, this is essential," said Abram.

"Do we have this structure for any of our terrestrial highways? Do we have a board of directors for the pavement out in front of your place or the bridge in Vancouver? Of course we don't. We have civil servants working out of the highways division of the ministry that say 'we need to do X' and they send their contractors out and they do it."

Abram wants the system to be managed similar to the inland ferries in B.C.'s interior, which are operated by B.C.'s transportation ministry.

BC Ferries went from being a Crown corporation to a private entity in 2003, though it receives an annual taxpayer subsidy.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Another example of why contracting out essential Government services is a poor idea even though its become a keystone in the right wing playbook!

 

[rickycourtney]

So it seems Washington State Ferries has decided to reverse course on a few decisions...

Back in June the 60 year old 87-car ferry Evergreen State was decommissioned with great pomp and circumstance. It was quietly pressed back into service after the giant 202-car ferry Tacoma died last summer... and it’s now scheduled to be in service indefinitely as a standby vessel.

The 34-car ferry Hiyu which has long been WSF's standby vessel is now scheduled to be decommissioned on May 11th. The Hiyu was the focus of a 2013 KING 5 investigation that found the state was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to staff and maintain the seldom used boat (just 8 days in a 23 month period).

From my somewhat educated opinion it seems that the state plans to keep the Evergreen State in service until late summer when the brand new 144-car ferry "Samish" arrives. At that point the Evergreen State will likely be decommissioned for good and one of her sister ships will become the standby vessel.

While the Evergreen State class is very old (61-56 years old)... they are a much more useful ships to have in the fleet. The Hiyu is slightly newer (48 years old) but the fact that it can only carry 34 cars makes the Hiyu mostly useless in this day and age.