Ferry at Port of Olympia to be replaced by 680-foot Matson ship
The Port of Olympia has been here before.
After a plan to bring in two, 600-foot Ready Reserve Fleet ships fell through in February, the Port of Olympia commission was back at it on Monday, voting 2-1 to bring a 680-foot ship to the marine terminal as early as May 8.
That means the former Washington state ferry, which has been docked at the port for three years, will have to move before then.
The five-year contract the Port Commission approved is with a division of a shipping company called Matson Inc., a business best known for delivering cargo to Alaska, Hawaii and Guam. Similar to the Ready Reserve agreement, the Matson ship, M/V Maunalei, is expected to arrive empty and remain docked at the port until needed by the company, Marine Terminal Director Len Faucher told the port commission on Monday.
The net present value of the five-year agreement is $3.2 million, according to the port.
The commission moved the item from the advisory portion of Monday’s agenda to make it an action item. As an advisory item, the port would have discussed the proposal to bring a ship here, then would have voted on it at a future meeting. Instead, the port voted on it Monday evening.
Commissioner Bill McGregor made the motion to move the agenda item, calling it a “time sensitive” proposal.
Commissioner E.J. Zita voted against the agenda change and against the overall agreement “on the grounds that we’re not following our process and have had inadequate opportunity for public comment.”
Commissioner Joe Downing, who ultimately voted with McGregor to approve the deal, raised his own concerns after Faucher’s presentation on the agreement.
Faucher showed a slide of comparable daily moorage rates charged by other ports in the region, including one at the Port of Tacoma that was lower than the $2,100 per day the port plans to charge Matson.
“It sounds great that Matson wants to pay this much, but I doubt they want to pay this for five years,” said Downing, adding that once a berth opens at the Port of Tacoma, Matson might move the ship up there.
In an effort to make sure Matson keeps the ship in Olympia, he proposed a sweetener: Allow Matson to dock two ships at the port at $2,100 per day. Downing then formalized his idea as a motion to the commission, but it failed to gain the support of McGregor and Zita.
Before the commission voted 2-1 to approve the agreement with Matson, there was one final bit of business: What if the ferry isn’t moved by May 8?
Faucher said the port can have a tug move the ferry, but after talking to ferry owner Bart Lematta on Friday, he was told that Lematta was making arrangements to move the ferry to another dock.
Any advances paid to the port by the ferry owner, less expenses incurred, will be credited upon his departure, Faucher said.
But if the tug had to move the ferry where would the tug take it?
Port spokeswoman Jennie Foglia-Jones said the tug would move the ferry off the marine terminal but keep it tied up alongside it, suggesting that one or both of the vessels would anchor somewhere.
Another possible option would be to move the ferry temporarily to Berth 3 where the log ships typically tie up, she said. If the port did have to move the ferry, all of those expenses would be covered by the ferry owner.
“We have no belief that he is not going to move,” Foglia-Jones said, adding that Lematta has been very cooperative and easy to work with.
This story was originally published April 13, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
