KINGSTON — Aqua Express will start its new passenger-only ferry service between Kingston and Seattle on Tuesday, Jan. 18.
Aqua Express General Manager Brian Grantham told the PDN on Tuesday that he and Port of Kingston Harbormaster Tom Berry have picked up the final permit they needed — from the Army Corps of Engineers — for construction of the ferry’s docking facility.
Grantham said he planned to do some demonstration runs of the Aqua Express, a 292-passenger catamaran that once operated as the state ferry Tyee, the week of Jan. 10.
Ferry service between Kingston and Seattle has been long sought by commuters in Jefferson and Kitsap counties.
Aqua Express, a consortium of marine businesses, had hoped to begin weekday-only foot-ferry runs on Oct. 1.
The company intended to begin service from the Port of Kingston’s guest dock while preparing the nearby public fishing pier as a permanent dock facility.
But the company decided the guest dock had too many problems to use, even on a temporary basis, according to Grantham, and began working with Kitsap Transit and the Port of Kingston to get the fishing pier turned into a docking facility for use starting in December.
Delays with getting the necessary federal, state and local construction permits moved the start-up into January.
