— from Lynne Griffith, State Dept of Transportation Asst. Secretary Ferries Division–
Tacoma’s back and looking better than ever!
The Tacoma sails again. Photo courtesy of Joe Malono, Bainbridge Island Terminal Superviosr
Earlier this week, Tacoma returned to the Seattle/Bainbridge route after four months of maintenance work.[Editor’s note: With the Tacoma out of service for the summer, San Juan Islands’ and other WSF ferry routes were impacted during the busiest travel season. For Tacoma’s travails in 2014, click orcasissues.com/ferries-Tacoma-gets-a-tow]
In addition to a new paint job, we installed a new five-bladed propeller (pictured in feature photo), similar to the one installed on the Puyallup in late-2013. The new propeller’s design will improve the vessel’s propulsion efficiency by 12 percent compared to the old four-bladed propeller, saving about $30,000 each month in fuel costs.
Painting these huge Jumbo Mark II ferries, the largest in the fleet, takes 5,300 gallons of paint and costs approximately $8 million.
We think you’ll agree that it’s nice to have Tacoma back and that she looks great!
