WSF Weekly Report | New winter sailing schedule for San Juans; Holiday greetings

||| FROM STEVE NEVEY for WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES |||

A message from Steve

As the holiday season approaches, we want to take a moment to say thank you. You’re not just our customers – you’re part of the Washington State Ferries community. Whether you’re traveling to celebrate with loved ones, visiting a favorite holiday spot or on your daily commute, we’re grateful to be a part of your journey.

Yakima Staff Chief Engineer Chad Scott, Assistant Engineer Alphonso Walukones and Oilers Mike Sullivan and Zach Ogdahl decorated the ferry for the season with more than 800 feet of lights.

The holidays are one of our busiest times, and we know how important reliable service is to your plans. Our crews and staff work hard, often spending time away from their loved ones during the holidays so others can get to the places they want and need to go. These efforts allow you to focus on what matters most this time of year. During one of our busiest stretches of the calendar, we appreciate your patience.

From all of us at Washington State Ferries, we wish you a joyful holiday season. Thank you for trusting us to be a part of your holidays. We look forward to serving you in 2025. 

Holiday season ferry travel

More than 600,000 people are expected on our ferries tomorrow, Dec. 20, through Wednesday, Jan. 1. Those boarding in a vehicle should plan for long lines and wait times. Customers are encouraged to download and use the WSDOT mobile app or visit our website to view terminal conditions, rider alerts and a real-time map that tracks our ferries. On Christmas Day, Dec. 25, and New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, there will be a few schedule changes on some routes. Holiday sailings are marked on the schedules for each route.

The busiest sailings will likely be centered around the weekend before and after Christmas Day. We usually see much lighter traffic for the New Year’s holiday.

New winter sailing schedule starts Sunday, Dec. 29, for Anacortes/San Juan Islands route

Beginning Sunday, Dec. 29, our Anacortes/San Juan Islands route will run on a new winter sailing schedule. This marks the first update in more than a decade, aimed at improving on-time service. Weekend interisland service was also added for this winter. We continue to work with the community on finalizing new schedules for spring/fall and summer. The switch in sailing seasons on Dec. 29 will bring no changes to any other routes. Our winter schedule goes through March 22, 2025.

Our San Juan interisland vessel will operate seven days a week this winter.

Colman Dock wins Best Projects Award from Engineering News-Record 

Engineering News-Record magazine honored our Seattle Multimodal Terminal at Colman Dock Project this week with a 2024 Best Projects Award. It won in the Best Airport/Transit category for the Northwest, which includes Alaska, Oregon and Washington. The team was also named as a finalist for the region’s overall Project of the Year. The project is now automatically eligible to be considered for ENG’s national Best of the Best awards next spring. An ENR Best Projects Award is considered one of commercial construction’s most prestigious and coveted honors. At a luncheon in Seattle Tuesday, Secretary of Transportation Roger Millar accepted an award on behalf of WSDOT as ENR Northwest’s 2024 Owner of the Year.

Members of the Colman Dock project team who accepted the ENR Best Projects Awards at Seattle Renaissance Hotel Tuesday included, from left to right, Partner/Architect David Yuan (NBBJ), Deputy Director of Terminal Engineering and Construction Bryant Bullamore, Deputy Assistant Secretary Nicole McIntosh, Director of Terminal Engineering and Construction Bryant Bullamore David Sowers, Director of Business Development Marjorie Chang (Hoffman Construction), Project Manager Bryan Lammers (Hoffman Construction), Vice President Andrew Powell (Hoffman Construction), Principal/Structural Engineer Sara Roberts (KPFF), Senior Vice President/Engineer Diver Mike Wray (WSP) and Vice President of Business Development Amy Scarton (HNTB).

Active Ferry Employees Charitable Trust teams up to stuff holidays with cheer

The Active Ferry Employees Charitable Trust is donating stuffed toys to Fircrest Residential Habilitation Center this holiday season. In place of its annual Holiday Cruise for People with Disabilities, AFECT has partnered with Friendship Adventures to bring the spirit of the season to those in need. AFECT’s mission is to provide temporary assistance to fellow WSF employees who are in need due to unforeseen circumstances.

We hope to welcome guests from residential facilities again soon for a holiday ferry ride that many of our employees donate their time to.

Sailing stats for the week of Dec. 9-15

For the week of Dec. 9-15, we completed 96.2% of our 2,787 scheduled sailings. This figure is separate from on-time performance. Of the 119 cancellations, 74 were due to a vessel being out of service, 16 because of weather, 12 for tidal currents, 11 due to schedule resets (when a boat is so far behind schedule, we cancel a sailing to get it back on schedule, providing predictability for customers), four because of miscellaneous reasons and two for crewing.

Customer kudos

“RAVE to all the ferry employees who worked on Thanksgiving. My father survived rounds of radiation and chemo and is now in remission, so getting to spend Thanksgiving with him meant a lot to me. Thank you for making that possible. (I wanted to tell you as you sold me the ticket, but I knew I’d get too teared up. This way, hopefully, everyone in the system, and in all transportation systems, knows how much we appreciate you working on a holiday.)”

-Customer in The Seattle Times

Next Weekly Update will be Thursday, Jan. 9

There will be no Weekly Update on Thursday, Dec. 26, and Thursday, Jan. 2. Have a wonderful holiday season. We’ll reconnect in the new year!