Seattle Times staff reporter
The state finally has sold two of its discarded passenger-only
ferries, the Kalama and the Skagit, to the African nation Tanzania.
The ferries have been docked and inactive since September 2009. The
Legislature ordered the state to get out of the passenger-only ferry
business in '06.
The two ferries had been sold to a boat broker in Port Coquitlam,
B.C., which sold them to Tanzania. They will be put in service between
the mainland of Tanzania and the Zanzibar archipelago. They were sold
for $400,000 combined, far below the $900,000 value the state said they
were worth in December 2009.
Marta Coursey, spokeswoman for Washington State Ferries, said the two boats will be taken to Africa by cargo ship.
The state had hoped to sell the two 112-foot boats locally, but when
that failed, it placed them for auction on eBay, asking $300,000 each,
with no success. The ferries were built in New Orleans and purchased in
1989 for $5 million.
Ferry historian Steve Pickens said the Kalama and the Skagit were the
first two passenger-only boats the state built. They were supposed to
go into service in 1989 but were tied up because there was no money to
run them. Following the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, the two vessels
were sent to San Francisco and served commuters crossing the bay while
the city's bridges were repaired.
SOURCE http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014270612_ferry19m.html nahttp://www.bongo5.com
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