||| FROM PATTY RUBSTELLO for WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES |||
Anacortes/San Juan Islands service restoration update
Nearly two weeks into trialing a return to a full four-boat fall schedule on our Anacortes/San Juan Islands route, we’ve been able to crew 99% of sailings there. However, knowing every sailing is important, taking riders to doctor visits, work and other important appointments, we want to be certain we can reliably crew restored service before reopening vehicle reservations on the route. We will update passengers soon on reservations and schedules for travel after Jan. 1, 2022, when our winter sailing schedule begins.
Vessel availability constraints
In addition to our historic staffing challenges, we continue to face vessel availability constraints. Our fleet of 21 ferries is down from 24 three years ago. Two of those vessels currently out of service for unplanned repairs – Wenatchee due to April’s engine room fire and Tokitae for emergency reduction gear work. The situation has left us with little wiggle room to conduct required scheduled maintenance on the rest of the fleet and leaves us down a boat to operate our current service for at least two days, starting Wednesday, Dec. 15. Based on ridership and need, we made the difficult decision to downsize our Edmonds/Kingston route to one-boat service during that time regardless of crewing availability.
Thankful to employees who worked over the holiday weekend
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! While many of us spent the long weekend with loved ones, many of our employees were hard at work making sure thousands of people could get to and from their holiday destinations safely. I would like to recognize our dispatchers, terminal staff, vessel crews and engineers who worked over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Photo of vehicles loading onto a ferry at Bremerton terminal
We carried nearly 250,000 riders from Wednesday through Sunday. That’s up 75,000 from the same period in 2020.
Retiring captain leads successful rescue on final day of work
And one crew working aboard Chimacum on Thanksgiving Day went above and beyond to save a life after a person went overboard while sailing from Bremerton to Seattle. Within seconds of being notified of what happened, Capt. Tom Tilton, working the final day of his 25-year WSF career before retiring, reversed course and began a search. As soon as the individual was spotted, crewmembers launched a rescue boat and recovered the person out of the water. The crew and some riders trained in paramedics treated the person until emergency medical services took over at Colman Dock. I am so thankful for Capt. Tilton and crew for their efforts and all our vessel employees for training and practicing regularly for emergencies!
New Mukilteo terminal named Northwest Project of the Year
Engineering News-Record (ENR) handed two awards to the team behind our new Mukilteo terminal on Tuesday. The engineering and construction publication named the terminal its Northwest Project of the Year and gave it the Award of Merit for excellence in sustainability. ENR editors cited the obstacles overcome in building on a land both steeped in cultural significance as the site of the 1855 Point Elliott Treaty signing and the contaminated site of a former U.S. Air Force fueling depot.
Our Mukilteo terminal project team now goes on to compete in the national ENR competition.
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