UPDATE: Washington State Ferries announced early Monday that the MV Kennewick has been repaired.
The Port Townsend-Coupeville ferry route was reopened for single vessel service as of the 6:30 a.m. departure from Port Townsend.
PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend-Coupeville ferry route is without service after the MV Kennewick faced engine problems Sunday morning.
The ferry’s engine has a water jacket leak and mechanics headed to Port Townsend on Sunday to fix the problem, said Ian Sterling, spokesperson for the Washington State Ferries.
How long repairs will take is unknown, he said. Sterling was unsure whether repairs would be complete within a day, a week or longer.
Reservation holders do not receive no-show fees due to canceled sailings.
“We just don’t know yet,” Sterling said. “We want to get the route restored to service as quick as we can.”
This was expected to be a busy weekend for the ferry.
Sunday was the Oyster Run — which bills itself as the largest motorcycle run in the Pacific Northwest — in Anacortes and the Port Townsend Film Festival continued through Sunday as well.
“It’s not a good situation,” he said.
Sterling said that at half capacity, the route would have been full Sunday.
If traveling to #oysterRun via #PortTownsend/#Coupville route is currently closed. #Kenniwick is out of service until further notice.
— Washington State Ferries (@wsferries) September 23, 2018
The latest development adds to problems on the route. The MV Salish, the other boat that typically serves the route, is now in dry dock after it bottomed out in Keystone Harbor earlier this month.
Sterling said it sustained “good” rudder and propeller damage and is expected to be repaired within the next week or two.
Last year, the Salish was out of service for rudder problems and crab pot damage. It took six weeks to repair.
Sterling said motorists should look at alternate routes, including the Kingston-Edmonds ferry and the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry.
Sunday morning, there was a 60-minute wait at the Clinton terminal and a two-hour wait at the Kingston terminal.
The MV Kennewick and MV Salish are two of three Kwa-di Tabil class ferries that can serve the Port Townsend-Coupeville route.
The third is the MV Chetzemoka, which is now serving the Point Defiance-Vashon Island route.
Sterling said it would be possible to move the Chetzemoka to Port Townsend, but that’s not an option that’s being looked at immediately.
“We do have a contingency plan and it’s plan B for a reason,” he said. “There’s no way not to feel pain on some route.”
Keystone Harbor in Coupeville makes it impossible for other classes of ferries to serve the route and with the Chetzemoka serving the Vashon Island route, there are no others that can fill the Port Townsend-Coupeville route, Sterling said.
“We just don’t have a deep bench,” he said. “We have one relief vessel and unfortunately it’s already in use.”
He said the ferry system is working on a long-range plan and has sent preliminary recommendations to the state legislature requesting five new Olympic-class boats.
If funded, none of those boats would be able to service the Port Townsend-Coupeville route but they could fill in at the Point Defiance-Vashon Island route.
“That’s a condition we’d like to remedy as quickly as we can,” Sterling said.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
