NC’s new passenger ferry is 3.5 years late. Will NCDOT get some of its money back?
.jpg "The Ocracoke Express will begin shuttling passengers between Hatteras and Ocracoke islands on May 17. The ferry is owned and operated by the N.C. Department of Transportation.")
The Ocracoke Express will begin its fourth season ferrying passengers between Hatteras and Ocracoke islands on May 17, but it will be the inaugural run for the state-owned boat.
The N.C. Department of Transportation had expected to take delivery on the catarmaran-style passenger boat in April 2018, in time for the summer season. After changes in the contract, the 2018 season was scrubbed and a new due date set for Aug. 23, 2018.
When the boat wasn’t ready then, NCDOT began assessing “liquidated damage” penalties of $1,000 a day. In the meantime, it leased another passenger ferry boat for the 2019, 2020 and 2021 summer seasons.
Now the state’s boat is ready for service, more than 3.5 years late, and those liquidated damages have topped $1.3 million.
It’s not clear how much of that money the state will receive. As of April 7, NCDOT had paid $3.6 million of the $4.4 million contract to build the boat, said Catherine Peele, planning and development manager for the Ferry Division.
Whether NCDOT gets any money back and who would pay it is now in the hands of NCDOT’s lawyers, Peele said.
“That is something that the legal team is working out currently,” she said.
One complication is that the company that finished building the boat is not the one that started it. US Workboats missed the initial deadline and later declared bankruptcy, resulting in another company, Waterline Systems, coming on to complete construction.
NCDOT and US Workboats blamed each other for the delays, and the matter ended up in court in 2019. US Workboats accused NCDOT of trying to apply a higher standard of welding than was specified in the contract. An attorney for the state countered that the company wanted to avoid testing required to determine the welds were safe after some of the tests had uncovered “significant problems.”
A Wake County judge dismissed the company’s breach of contract claim, saying it didn’t follow a grievance process spelled out in its contract with NCDOT.
Peele said Waterline Systems will not be responsible for the penalties for missing the 2018 deadline.
An alternative to the Hatteras-Ocracoke car ferry
The state introduced the passenger ferry after shoaling in Hatteras Inlet forced the car ferries to take a longer route between the two islands. With more time on the water, NCDOT had to cut the number of ferry trips, reducing the number of visitors to Ocracoke.
The Ocracoke Express crossing takes 70 minutes and delivers passengers to Silver Lake harbor in Ocracoke Village. A one-way trip costs $5, plus $1 per bicycle. Children 3 and under who can share a seat with an adult ride free.
The Hatteras-Ocracoke car ferry is free, though there can be a considerable wait to get on in the summer.
The new ferry can carry up to 129 passengers at a time. It will leave Hatteras at 9:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., with return trips from Ocracoke Village at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
The Coast Guard approved the boat for testing on March 25, then certified on April 22 that it is safe to carry passengers, Peele said. That’s when NCDOT stopped calculating the daily $1,000 penalty for being late.
“The boat’s ours,” Peele said. “We’re ready to rock and roll on May 17.”
NCDOT will christen the boat in a ceremony at the Hatteras ferry terminal on May 16. The event will also mark the 75th anniversary of the state ferry system, the second largest run by a state in the country after Washington.
For more information about the Ocracoke Express or to make a reservation up to 90 days in advance, go to www.ncdot.gov/travel-maps/ferry-tickets-services/ or call 1-800-293-3779.
