WASHINGTON — Washington State Ferries said about 700,000 people are expected to ride through the ferry system from June 28 through July 7.
This comes after officials issued an alert on the Mukilteo-Clinton route stating they are in the process of repairing the Suquamish, which has damage from a crab pot line.
“Believe it or not, those lines can actually cause damage to the seal on the propeller shaft and so that needs to be fixed before it can get back in the water and get back into service,” said Ian Sterling, spokesperson for WSF.
The alert said that the Suquamish is a 144-vehicle vessel that WSF planned to swap with the 144-vehicle Tokitae on the Mukilteo/Clinton route for the Fourth of July holiday week. Officials said the Tokitae has to come out of service on June 30 for its federally mandated five-year drydocking. Officials also said they’re using ‘smaller-than-normal’ vessels.
“When they take one of our bigger boats and move it to another line, it compacts. I get regular updates on the ferries, and I’ll see two-hour waits, three-hour waits, and I’m thinking I need to avoid that,” said Marnelle Helling, a frequent ferry rider.
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If the Suquamish is not returned to service by the start of next week and we need to take the Tokitae out of service by June 30, we will need to move vessels around,” said the alert. “With only smaller vessels available, this may result in longer wait times and service impacts over the busy holiday travel period.
This route isn’t the only one that could be impacted for the holiday travel.
In a press release, WSF said the Seattle/Bainbridge, Edmonds/Kingston are operating with two boats on each route. One of the two boats assigned to each route has a smaller-than-normal summer season car capacity due to a lack of available ferries.
We run a complex operation of roughly 400 daily sailings,” said WSF Assistant Secretary Steve Nevey. “Our online tools let customers take control of their ferry travel to help plan a trip and know what to expect before they get in a ferry waiting line.
As people travel through the ferry system, WSF still faces a shortage of vessels. WSF officials said they have 21 boats in its fleet, but only 15 are currently in service. They add that 26 boats are needed for service to be fully restored.
“We’re behind in terms of building boats, and I know they’re talking about doing electric boats, but that’s several years out,” said Helling.
In order to avoid some of those long wait times, officials said riders may consider taking an early morning or late-night sailing or by using transit to walk or bike onto the ferry if possible.
