Post by ferryfast admin on Feb 19, 2008 10:22:45 GMT -5
Mothballed foot ferry put out for bid on eBay
YouNewsTV™
Story Updated: Feb 16, 2008 at 10:09 AM PST
By KOMO Staff & News Services
SEATTLE - The state ferry system has put the mothballed passenger ferry Chinook up for bid on the web site eBay.
The ferry, a sister vessel to the foot ferry Snohomish, was put on sale Thursday night with an opening price of $4.5 million. It will remain on sale until Feb. 24.
The 126-foot diesel-powered ferry once served the Bremerton-Seattle ferry run and was considered the pride of the state ferry fleet.
But it was pulled from duty after a lawsuit alleged that its wake was damaging shorelines in Rich Passage, and it has been mothballed for years. The vessel is currently inoperable.
The state ferry system has been told by the Legislature to sell the passenger ferries Snohomish and Chinook, but the Snohomish has been needed to fill in for the disabled car ferry Yakima on the Bremerton run.
The most expensive item ever sold on eBay was a private business jet for $4.9 million, according to eBay spokeswoman Kim Rubey.
A law passed in April required the Department of Transportation to make the ferries available for sale by June 1. The proceeds would be deposited into a passenger ferry account and awarded as grants for other ferry systems to operate passenger-only service.
Early this month, the Port of Kingston asked the state for $900,000 from the fund to help start a route between Kingston and downtown Seattle.
King County also will be seeking funds after the council voted Tuesday to take over the state's route between Vashon Island and downtown Seattle, run the Elliott Bay water taxi year around and test five other runs on Puget Sound and Lake Washington.
Besides any grant money it receives, King County will collect $18 million a year in property taxes to pay for its system.
This won't be the state's first experience with eBay. In November 2003, it sold the passenger ferry Tyee for $560,000, sight unseen, to Frederick Gutchell of Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Without touching the 270-passenger boat, he turned around and sold it for $750,000 to Aqua Express, which operated it between Kingston and Seattle for nine months in 2005.
Find this article at:
www.komotv.com/news/15700082.html
YouNewsTV™
Story Updated: Feb 16, 2008 at 10:09 AM PST
By KOMO Staff & News Services
SEATTLE - The state ferry system has put the mothballed passenger ferry Chinook up for bid on the web site eBay.
The ferry, a sister vessel to the foot ferry Snohomish, was put on sale Thursday night with an opening price of $4.5 million. It will remain on sale until Feb. 24.
The 126-foot diesel-powered ferry once served the Bremerton-Seattle ferry run and was considered the pride of the state ferry fleet.
But it was pulled from duty after a lawsuit alleged that its wake was damaging shorelines in Rich Passage, and it has been mothballed for years. The vessel is currently inoperable.
The state ferry system has been told by the Legislature to sell the passenger ferries Snohomish and Chinook, but the Snohomish has been needed to fill in for the disabled car ferry Yakima on the Bremerton run.
The most expensive item ever sold on eBay was a private business jet for $4.9 million, according to eBay spokeswoman Kim Rubey.
A law passed in April required the Department of Transportation to make the ferries available for sale by June 1. The proceeds would be deposited into a passenger ferry account and awarded as grants for other ferry systems to operate passenger-only service.
Early this month, the Port of Kingston asked the state for $900,000 from the fund to help start a route between Kingston and downtown Seattle.
King County also will be seeking funds after the council voted Tuesday to take over the state's route between Vashon Island and downtown Seattle, run the Elliott Bay water taxi year around and test five other runs on Puget Sound and Lake Washington.
Besides any grant money it receives, King County will collect $18 million a year in property taxes to pay for its system.
This won't be the state's first experience with eBay. In November 2003, it sold the passenger ferry Tyee for $560,000, sight unseen, to Frederick Gutchell of Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Without touching the 270-passenger boat, he turned around and sold it for $750,000 to Aqua Express, which operated it between Kingston and Seattle for nine months in 2005.
Find this article at:
www.komotv.com/news/15700082.html