The recent announcement that Washington state has awarded a $714 million contract to Eastern Shipbuilding Group in Florida to build three hybrid-electric ferries marks a dramatic shift in transportation policy. It’s the first time in over half a century that our state ferries will be built beyond our borders. That decision might save money in the short term — but it risks mortgaging the future of Washington’s maritime economy.
Tacoma and the surrounding Puget Sound communities are built on shipyards, skilled trades and blue-collar pride. We’ve long been home to welders, pipefitters, engineers and deckhands. Washington’s own maritime industry has the capacity — if properly invested in — to build the vessels that navigate our waters. The question is not whether we can build them here. The question is whether we choose to.
When contracts go out of state, so do the jobs. Each ferry constructed outside Washington forfeits hundreds of local union paychecks. These aren’t theoretical jobs — they’re family-supporting wages that ripple through the economy, from grocery stores and coffee shops to housing and healthcare providers. Shipbuilding isn’t just an industrial sector; it’s a community sustainer…