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TWO BECOME ONE - A crane lowers the superstructure to mate it to the hull of Mavrik Marine ferry #3 on May 16. It's the third of four passenger ferries the La Conner firm has built to serve San Francisco Bay.
Ferry #3 under construction by Mavrik Marine had a little sunshine on Thursday, May 16, when its superstructure was rolled from one Mavrik building to another.
The hull has been under construction in the taller building while the superstructure has been built in the smaller one. During Thursday's move, the two parts of the vessel were placed side by side and "mated" when the superstructure was lifted onto the hull.
Two high-speed, passenger-only, Mavrik-made ferries are already in service on the San Francisco Bay. The MV Delphinus left La Conner on Feb. 10 and arrived in San Francisco two days later. It was christened in a March ceremony by the Water Emergency Transportation Authority, which operates the ferry fleet. The MV Dorado was delivered in spring 2023.
Like the Dorado and Delphinus, ferries #3 and #4 – soon to be named by San Francisco school children in a contest – carry up to 320 passengers and operate at 32 knots of speed. But instead of twin-engine jet drives, they will be propelled by quad-engine jet drives.
"Quad-engine jet drives are more energy efficient and environmentally friendly," said Bailey Shewchuk, president of Mavrik and chairman of its board of directors.
Shewchuk stepped into his role after founder Zachery Battle died last November, shortly after the MV Delphinus was moved into the water.
Each ferry takes a little less time to build. "The processes that we go through become more repeatable," said Shewchuk. "There was a learning curve on MV Dorado, but we refined our processes for MV Delphinus, and will refine them again for the next ferries."
That's good, because the market for efficient, high-speed ferries is growing. Environmental Protection Agency regulations for fuel efficiency mean that WETA and other ferry operators must upgrade their fleets. Several large operators will issue requests for proposals (RFPs) for new ferries this year.
"That's good for Mavrik and other shipyards across the West Coast," said Shewchuk. "We see potential for another 10 to 12 vessels between 2024 and 2030."
Some RFPs may be for electric-powered ferries. Mavrik will rise to the challenge. Its dual- and quad-engine jet drives already come from a third-party vendor, so a supplier for electric jet drives will be easy to find.
Mavrik's enthusiastic workforce is a big asset in the company's success, says Shewchuk.
"Quality is our top priority," he said. "At the end of every day what people have accomplished is standing right in front of them. That sense of accomplishment and pride in the quality of the product is infectious.
"We want to be a part of La Conner," he said. "We don't want to be the Starbucks, we want to be the little coffee place on the corner. We are quite happy being a small shipyard in La Conner, producing outstanding boats."
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