Easing off the throttle during sailings could save Washington State Ferries hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, system leaders say, but doing so this week led to delays on the Bremerton-Seattle route.
The ferry system consumed a record 19 million gallons of fuel in the past year, as ridership reached 24.5 million, a 15-year high. Under a directive from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to increase conservation and efficiency in state government, ferries staff implemented a plan this week to slow vessels about two knots an hour during most crossings.
Easing up slightly, leaders believe, will save fuel while still allowing them to keep on schedule.
“Basically, don’t go full tilt all the time,” said state ferries spokesman Ian Sterling. “And it will end up saving us millions of dollars in fuel over time.”
But implementation caused some delays on the Seattle to Bremerton route this week -- specifically, the runs made by the ferry Chimacum were behind schedule.
Sterling said other routes have not been impacted because most routes have enough “wiggle room” in schedules to accommodate the slow-down. But Bremerton’s schedule is airtight to begin with.
The Chimacum ran behind schedule Wednesday and Thursday due to what ferry staff said on Twitter was “vessel speed restrictions.”
Ferry leaders have directed the Chimacum’s crew to increase speeds as necessary to keep the vessel on time, Sterling said.
For most crossings, however, ferries leaders say a small difference in time makes a big difference in fuel economy. Matt Von Ruden, the state ferry system’s director of vessel engineering and maintenance, said decreasing a vessel’s speed from 20 knots to 18 would result in an average saving of 50 gallons per sailing system-wide.
Over a year, Von Ruden said reducing fuel consumption by even 1 percent – roughly 190,000 gallons – would save the system nearly half a million dollars.
The system is also evaluating whether its Jumbo Mark-II class vessels, the largest of the fleet, could operate on fewer engines when crossing from Bainbridge Island to Seattle or Edmonds to Kingston.
System leaders are looking for ways to follow the directive from Inslee, who in January directed state departments to reduce energy consumption and find cleaner technology alternatives.
“He’s a real champion of ferries,” Von Ruden said of Inslee. “He’s challenging us to change the way we do business.”
