State agrees to sell steel electric boats for scrap

The Washington State Ferry System has agreed to sell its four white elephants, the abandoned Steel Electric ferries, to a Seattle company that will dismantle them in Mexico for scrap.

The company, Environmental Recycling Systems will pay the state $500,000, plus 10 percent of the recycling revenue, which the state expects will be about $200,000. ERS will have to pay the cost of towing the boats to Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico and the state said the boats can't be used for passenger service, they must be dismantled, said ferries spokeswoman Marta Coursey.

Last November, state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond, concerned about pitting and other damage to the 80-old ferries, pulled them out of service, cutting ferry service to Port Townsend. Since then the state has been trying to sell the Illahee, Nisqually, Klickitat and Quinault. It tried twice to sell the boats on eBay, with no success.

An earlier report for the state ferries found that the four boats could be sold as scrap metal for about $450,000 each. but Coursey said "this was the best and only offer."

The sale has not closed and ERS must remove the boats within 45 days of the closing.

The state also announced it has received an offer from Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District to buy the ferry systems' two idled passenger-only ferries, the Chinook and Snohomish.

The San Francisco agency operates ferries between Sausalito and San Francisco and Larkspur and San Francisco.

According to Coursey, the Golden Gate authority inspected the boats Sept. 10 and didn't want to buy them because it hoped to build bigger passenger ferries, but the cost made them take another look.

The state also twice tried to sell these ferries on eBay, with no buyers.

Coursey said the purchase price has not been disclosed and depends on whether the Golden Gate board of directors will authorize the purchase. The board won't meet til sometime in October, she said.

The state told boat brokers the fair market value for the Chinook and Snohomish was $3 million for each vessel.