From the Seattle Times yesterday:

Washington’s ferry system hit a low point over the weekend as yet another boat had to be taken out of service, leaving the fleet with just 14 working ships out of 21 owned by the state.

As Monday arrived, agency officials continued their struggle to piece together workable schedules on every route, a challenge they’ll likely wrestle with through the week and beyond.

There are no shortcuts to fixing the fleet. Simply, the state needs more boats. Just nine of the 21 are in good shape, although the Chimacum was built in 2017, proof that anything can happen to these ferries.

“We need to build boats,” Sterling said. “At the end of the day, that’s the story here.”

The state has set a long-term, $4 billion goal of adding 16 new boats, mostly electric, to the fleet by 2040, while retiring many of those currently in use.

The state Legislature has so far budgeted roughly $1 billion for five new boats, but the timeline for their construction has been pushed back to late 2027. Washington’s longtime partnership with Vigor to build new ferries fell apart in 2022 when the two sides couldn’t agree on liability or price. Vigor’s price, initially estimated to be around $200 million each, could go higher.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/wa-ferry-fleet-loses-seattle-to-bremerton-boat-strain-continues/

For interest, CalMac, though operating in more northerly, colder and more stormy waters, has as far as I can see, only 2 of 33 vessels (6%) out of service compared to 7 out of 21 (33%) of WSF vessels. Now that’s a ‘ferry fiasco’ for you.

And, the average age of a CalMac ferry is 23 with the MV Hebridean Isles 38. 11 of the 21 Washington State ferries, in the affluent Seattle area, are older than this. Three were built in the 1970s, two in the 1960s and one still operating was built in 1959.