Departure of decommissioned ferries postponed in Washington State

The departure of two retired ferries from Puget Sound was delayed because of a malfunction in the tow equipment.

The ferries were returned to the Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility on Bainbridge Island and docked.

Washington State Ferries (WSF), a division of the Washington State Department of Transportation, sold the Elwha and Klahowya ferries for $100,000 each to Nelson Armas. Armas plans to recycle the ferries at an Ecuadoran clean, green steel mill facility.

“After safely serving our customers for more than five decades each, the sale of these two retired ferries will free up our docking space so we can focus vessel maintenance needs on our current fleet,” WSF Assistant Secretary Steve Nevey said. “In addition, any time we needed to move these decommissioned boats to allow for vessel or terminal maintenance, there was a cost for a tugboat, and we needed a tow captain on board, taking away a crewmember from working on one of our routes.”

On Monday, the new owner supplied a Western Towboat Co. tug to take Elwha and Klahowya out of Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility. Before the malfunction occurred, the ferries were then to connect with the Wycliffe, a voyage towing tugboat, that would take the vessels out of the Puget Sound. There is currently no revised tow plan.

The sale of a third decommissioned vessel is pending.

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