Visible remnants of the shipyards stll exist. On the east side of the Santa Fe channel is a huge concrete building which served as the general warehouse, and the steel building to its north served as the shipyard’s machine shop. Five concrete basins nearby that served as drydocks for the shipyards are now docking sites for various ships, including two former navy floating machine shops that were used in the storm sequences of the movie, The Perfect Storm.

Ferry service returned to Richmond in September 1999 when Red & White Fleet initiated daily commuter service to and from San Francisco and ferries to PacBell Park for Giants home games, but the commuter service was discontinued 14 months later due to a lack of ridership. However, would-be commuters, local realtors and Richmond officials believe bringing ferry service back to Richmond would be an asset to the economic development of the city. New friendships, some of which still endure, were made on the ferries and many of the commuters still communicate via e-mail and an occasional social gathering.

"I’d love to have ferry service come back. That’s Richmond’s history. We also had a ferry to Marin before the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was built," said Richmond Mayor Corbin." Just north of that bridge are the remains of the terminal and pier that served ferries from 1915 until 1956 when the 5.5 mile span linking Marin County and Richmond was completed. Today the bridge carries an estimated 60,000 commuters each day. "Ferries and Richmond have a long happy history together. I’m hoping we can get a ferry back," said Corbin.

Corbin said she believes the commuter service failed because the boats were too big and too slow. Commuters who rode the ferries disagreed, claiming the service was inadequately promoted. According to ferry operator Red & White Fleet ridership less than 50 people used the commuter service each work day. The boats used for the daily commute took about 50 minutes to make the one-way trip and had a passenger capacity of over 300 people. "Hopefully we can get a more appropriately sized ferry and one that can offer a faster commute," the mayor told Bay Crossings.

Corbin said restoring ferry service would give the city another transportation option and remove cars from the freeway. She is optimistic that one day in the not too distant future ferries will once more ply the waters of the Richmond Channel. "It’s not going to happen this year, but we are looking at possibilities. PG&E, before they filed for bankruptcy, was considering applying for a demonstration grant to run a clean ferry of smaller dimensions. People are trying to figure out how to get money. The problem is there are no public transportation modes that don’t have large subsidies. Our ferry was not being subsidized," said Corbin.

The Mayor said the city has grown and changed significantly in the last few years. "The direction we are going is more diversity in terms of types of businesses. We are developing both housing and businesses so that what we call ‘jobs to housing balance’ is pretty good." The mayor’s vision for Richmond includes a wider variety of employment opportunities as well as more variety in housing opportunities.

Richmond’s strategic location on the bay is a tremendous asset, says the mayor. "We have 32 miles of shoreline, so in addition to port we have upscale housing of all sorts, from apartments to huge luxury houses. We have the (Chevron) refinery and we have four marinas. We have the Bay Trail, wonderful recreational opportunities, opportunities for employment and opportunities for living with great bay views."

The Bay Trail enters Richmond from the south at Point Isabel. From here to Marina Bay is the most popular. At Point Isabel you can indulge at K-9 Coffee for an 

espresso (so named because this is a popular dog park-they even have Mudpuppies Tub & Scrub dog wash here.) You continue north along the shoreline to Marina Bay, which bears little resemblance to the former industrial site, Kaiser Shipyard #2, that was here before. In fact, most of the shoreline between the marina and Potrero Point was occupied by Kaiser Shipyards during W.W.II.