PORT TOWNSEND – Passenger ferry service between here and Keystone – which was expected to begin today – won’t start until at least Monday, a Washington State Ferries spokeswoman said Thursday.
“We can’t get secure mooring there [at the Port Townsend ferry terminal] at night, so we’re looking for a new place,” state ferries system spokeswoman Susan Harris-Huether said Thursday.
State ferries system officials had said on Wednesday that they planned to have a passenger ferry for the Port Townsend-Keystone route today, but after trying the high-speed passenger ferry Snohomish out on Thursday, plans changed.
“We could pick up passengers [in Port Townsend], but we can’t moor it there,” Harris-Huether said.
“Especially up there, it gets pretty windy and leaving it unsecured, that’s an irresponsible to do.”
For now, the ferry will be moored at Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island, Harris said.
Paula Hammond, secretary of the state Department of Transportation, on Tuesday pulled out of service all four Steel Electric-class ferries that serve the Port Townsend-Kingston route, citing excessive rusting – or pitting – of the vessels’ hulls.
The short-term alternative was to operate the high-speed passenger ferry Snohomish between Port Townsend and Keystone on Whidbey Island, following the same schedule used for vehicle ferries.
Harris said ferry operators navigated the ferry around both the Port Townsend and Keystone harbors and ferry terminals on Thanksgiving, as they learned how to operate it and searched for safe moorage.
“They are refamiliarizing themselves with the Snohomish,” she said, adding the vessel hasn’t been used since 2003.
The ferry operators were able to physically maneuver the vessel into both terminals, but couldn’t find any where to tie it up safely at night, Harris said.
“We have people coming in Friday to begin calling people about moorage sites and we hope to start by Monday,” she said.
“We’ll figure out something else. Harris said.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way and we want ferry service between Port Townsend and Keystone real badly.”
