The Steamship Authority (SSA) plans to solidify a contract for the conversion of its three newest freight ferries soon.
The SSA revealed in March that the lowest bid that came in for the conversion fees of the Aquinnah, Monomoy, and Barnstable will cost $20 million per vessel. This amount, given by bidder Alabama Shipyard, was well above what the Steamship initially estimated. SSA originally thought the conversion would cost $9 million per vessel.
The spike in costs rattled SSA board members, who expressed disappointment and wanted to know how the estimates were off by so much during a meeting last week.
SSA General Manager Robert Davis and SSA Director of Marine Operations Mark Amundsen are traveling down South and meeting with the shipyard this week, SSA Treasurer Mark Rozum said during a Port Council meeting on Tuesday morning. “We’re currently still finalizing the contract,” Rozum said. He did not have an updated cost estimate for the council, and said that would be revealed after finalizing negotiations.
According to a trip summary report shared during Tuesday’s council meeting, the SSA had to cancel 35 trips this year due to mechanical issues on the Martha’s Vineyard route, 22 of those cancellations in February alone. Only two cancellations for mechanical reasons occurred on the Nantucket route.
The SSA board will consider awarding the dry dock and vessel conversion contract during its meeting on Thursday, April 6, at 9:30 am.
And why is there no plan to electrify these vessels while doing the conversion, and have them ready to go whenever shoreside power is available?
What are the costs of electrifacation?
Shoreside power is available.
For a new ferry, electrification adds about 15% to cost, but is more than saved over a 10 period by reduced operating costs. I dunno what added cost would be for conversions but seems a lot of money is being spent already…why not do it right?
And no, sufficient shoreside power is not presently available. If you had listened to the Electric Ferries Now presentation last Friday, you would have heard the Eversource segment detailing how they were planning to bring power to dockside in Woods Hole and MV.