The state ferry system urgently needs new vessels to replace aging ferries that are past or very near retirement age. Ferry riders pleased to see progress, but still unsettledRegular ferry riders expressed happiness about the start of vessel construction, but some are still worried about the future of the state ferry system. “One new ferry a year isn’t, I don’t believe, going to get Washington State Ferries out of the hole,” Burtness said. Only two shipyards nationwide competed for this ferry construction contract. Washington State Ferries plans to assign the first two plug-in ferries to the Mukilteo-Clinton route.