PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County Ferry Advisory Committee chairman urged county commissioners Monday to lobby in Olympia for passenger-only ferry service during the holiday season to offset the anticipated loss of the current 50-car ferry to Coast Guard-required maintenance.
“I think this is something that needs to be done,” ferry service advocate Tim Caldwell said.
“This is deja vu all over again.”
A $15,000 grant from Puget Sound Energy Foundation to the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce funded passenger ferry service between Port Townsend and Seattle, Caldwell said, after ferry service was abruptly halted between Port Townsend and Whidbey Island just before Thanksgiving.
State Transportation Secretary Paul Hammond on Nov. 20 ordered the more than 80-year-old Steel Electric ferries to be pulled from service, saying their hulls were pitted, corroded and unsafe.
To mitigate the loss and help holiday business in Port Townsend, Hammond sent the state-owned Snohomish passenger ferry to shuttle passengers between Port Townsend and Seattle at the bargain fare of $6.70 each way.
Since then, state ferries has sold the Snohomish to the Golden Gate Transit Authority in San Francisco.
Leased car ferry
The state has been operating the leased Steilacoom II car-passenger ferry to offset the loss of the two 54-car Steel Electrics on the treacherous Port Townsend-Keystone route, initiating a ferry reservation system the proved successful during the peak tourism season this year.
State ferries originally intended to replace Pierce County’s Steilacoom II with her older sister vessel, the Christine Anderson, but decided against it after sea trials last summer revealed the Anderson had an inadequate propulsion system for the Keystone landing on Whidbey Island.
The U.S. Coast Guard requires that the Steilacoom II be dry-docked for annual maintenance by Dec. 31.
Commercial trucks
The Steilacoom II maintenance issue, plus a proposal from Caldwell, the former Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce general manager, and fellow ferry advisory committee member Tom Thiersch to float a special commercial truck run between Edmonds and Port Townsend during the May-June 2009 Hood Canal Bridge construction closure, are expected to be major topics of discussion today.
State ferries system officials and the Port Townsend-Keystone Ferry Partnership Committee meet at 1 p.m. at the Pope Marine Building, Madison and Water streets at City Dock in Port Townsend.
Private ferries contracted
State ferries officials have initially said that privately owned passenger ferries, such as Port Townsend’s Puget Sound Express or Port Angeles’ Victoria Express, would have to be contracted during the two to three weeks the Steilacoom II was in for maintenance.
During a Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce board meeting last Thursday, longtime downtown retailer Marilyn Staples urged the board to write a letter to 24th District state lawmakers informing of the business community’s concern about the possible loss of ferry service during the holidays.
“It’s going to be unpleasant for about 2 to 3 weeks here no matter what,” said Thiersch.
The Steilacoom II will likely be used until a 64-car ferry is built by mid-2010, state ferries officials said. A second ferry like that first one would be built and returned to the route about a year later, as planned.
Work on the first of the two ferries could start as early as November, depending upon how soon the state awards a contract and construction begins.
Bids will be opened Nov. 6.
PT-Edmonds run?
During Monday’s county commissioners meeting, Caldwell also described the ferry committee’s preferred option during next spring’s Hood Canal Bridge construction closure: a late-night commercial truck run between Port Townsend and Edmonds.
Caldwell cited several businesses, including Port Townsend Paper Corp. and Nippon Paper Industries USA in Port Angeles, which are interested in using an Issaquah-class state ferry, the Sealth, that can handle about 100 cars.
Caldwell said the ferry, which has a deck design compatible for larger commercial trucks, could be diverted to the Kingston-Edmonds route for one sailing to Port Townsend seven days a week during the bridge closure.
“We found out we have enough trucks available,” Caldwell told the commissioners.
Caldwell said if the Coast Guard would allow using a “mule” tractor to pull truck trailers only onto the ferry, there could be room for up to 12 trailers.
Such details would have to be worked out.
“We want to help commercial traffic,” he said.
Port Townsend Paper representatives have voiced concerns about delivering the mill’s kraft paper to its box-making plants in British, Columbia without having to drive its product through Olympia.
Caldwell said he hopes the city markets Port Townsend and the county during the bridge closure so they use the special Edmonds run as well.
“We certainly want to make the trip enticing to people on the I-5 corridor,” he said.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com
