Three excursion boat operators have expressed initial interest in making Tacoma's Foss Waterway a base for South Sound operations once a new excursion dock is built on the Waterway.

That excursion dock is scheduled to be constructed this fall near the site of the Esplanade condominium and a proposed new boutique hotel on the west side of the Foss, said Don Meyer, the authority's executive director.

The pilings for 200-foot-long dock are already in place, and a low floating dock and a gangway to the shore are to be added this year. The project should be complete by year's end, said Meyer.

Excursion dock site

Designers are now reworking the plan for the final elements of the excursion dock to make it fit the budget of about $600,000, said Meyer.

Meyer said that the excursion boat operators told him they were interested in the possibility of setting up shop in Tacoma once the float was available.

Meyer envisions a charter-style operation with holiday cruises and corporate events, weddings and fund raisers on a Tacoma-based boat.

The presence of a boat and the crowds that it draws would enliven the mix of activities on the Foss and provide conventioneers an additional excursion choice.

With fuel prices so high, it no longer makes economic sense for excursion operators to bring their boats to Tacoma from Seattle for a single event.

Boeing stock closed today at $62.01, up 90 cents from the 3-year low it hit Thursday.

The stock, whose 52-week high was 107.15, has been on a steady downward slide for the last several months.

Analysts say two factors are behind the continuing slide, the threat of further airliner order cancellations as airlines encounter further financial turbulence and the threat of strikes this fall by Boeing two largest unions.

Those unions, the Machinists and the Society of Engineering Employees in Aerospace, warned earlier this week that they consider this year to be their turn to reap the benefits of Boeing's profitability.

The company, they complain, is not offering in negotiations what they consider to be sufficient rewards for their hard work.

Boeing says it has to think of its long-term competitive position.

Thus far this year airlines have canceled just 63 plane orders out of more than 3,600 planes still on order at Boeing. That amounts to more than six years of full production at Boeing.

Boeing won a single order from American Airlines this week for a 737.

That raises Boeing's order total for the year to 543.

The single-aisle 737 leads the Boeing 737 order book with 420 2008 orders. The 787 was second in popularity with 79 orders followed by the 777 with 42 for the year.

Not included in that tally is a new order for six 777s announced Thursday by British Airways. British is ordering the larger 777-300ER planes as a more fuel-efficient replacement for some of its four-engine 747-400 fleet.