PORT TOWNSEND — A call for bids will go out Wednesday for providing temporary passenger ferry service on the Port Townsend-Keystone route during January, when the 50-car Steilacoom II ferry is dry-docked for annual maintenance.
Washington State Ferries will view the bids and respond with a contract by Dec. 15, said Marta Coursey, Washington State Ferries communications manager.
Passenger ferry services that have expressed interest in submitting bids include Port Townsend-based P.S. Express and Port Angeles’ Victoria Express. Two others on the list are Seattle’s Victoria Clipper and Mystic Sea Charters in Anacortes.
“It’s going to be similar service we had last year,” ferries spokeswoman Hadley Greene said. “The schedule will be basically the same as we have with the Steilacoom II.”
P.S. Express and the former state-owned Snohomish passenger ferry provided service last year.
The Pierce County-owned Steilacoom II will serve the Port Townsend-Keystone route through Jan. 4 of New Year’s weekend before it is dry-docked for an estimated three weeks.
State ferries system officials will bring in barges on both sides of the ferry route to accommodate passengers taking the gangway on and off the passenger ferry.
Some of the runs may be adjusted to meet bus stops on both sides of the route.
The state is leasing the Steilacoom II to fill the void left Nov. 20, when state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond pulled the more than 80-year-old Steel Electrics from service because they were unsafe. They have since been sold for scrap.
On Monday, the state ferries system awarded a contract to Todd Pacific Shipyard of Seattle to build a new 64-car Island Home-model ferry to serve the route.
The 18-month, $65.5 million contract could put the car ferry on the route by mid-2010.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsula dailynews.com.
