PORT TOWNSEND — Maintenance work on the Steilacoom II ferry, which is required by year’s end, will mean the return of temporary passenger-only ferry service to the Port Townsend-Keystone route.
“It could be two to three weeks,” Washington State Ferries spokeswoman Hadley Greene said of the Steilacoom II‘s drydocking.
When the Steilacoom II, which the state leases from Pierce County, will be lifted into dry dock for Coast Guard-required annual maintenance is unknown, Greene said, but it has to be by Dec. 31.
“The vessel is required to go through its Coast Guard inspection,” Greene said.
“It has to be done by the end of the year. Pierce [County] is responsible for that. We’re working with Pierce County to schedule a date.”
State ferries system officials are expected to discuss the passenger-ferry option at the next Port Townsend-Keystone Ferry Partnership committee meeting at 1 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Pope Marine Building, Madison and Water streets at City Dock.
