— from David Moseley, WSDOT Ferries Division Assistant Secretary —
I want to apologize to customers of the San Juan Islands for the service disruptions this week while the 90-car/1,200-passenger Sealth is out of service for repairs.
We are having ongoing issues with the Sealth steering and rudder system. We had a vendor on site to conduct a system flush and returned the vessel to service on Wednesday morning, but experienced problems that evening again. At this point we do not have a concrete date to return the Sealth to service.
Starting today, [Feb. 14]. the Hiyu will serve the interisland route while the Evergreen State replaces the Sealth. Our maintenance crews are working diligently to resolve the issue and return the vessel to service as soon as possible.
