PORT TOWNSEND — Community leaders are floating options to bring passenger ferry service to Port Townsend with a direct route to Seattle.
The Port of Port Townsend is contemplating the prospect.
More than a week ago, the port commissioners applied for a Federal Highways and Transportation Administration appropriation to buy a small passenger ferry to run commuter trips daily between Port Townsend and Seattle.
Port Townsend’s port is working with Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Freeland resident on Whidbey Island, to secure the appropriation.
Another prospect is Saturday and Sunday use of the Port of Kingston’s new passenger ferry, Spirit, a 149-seat catamaran vessel in dry dock at the Port of Port Townsend’s boat yard this weekend for inspection and hull painting. The vessel is expected to be relaunched Monday.
“Whatever we can do to bring more people to Port Townsend, the better off all of our businesses are,” said Christina Pivarnik, city of Port Townsend marketing director.
Seven days a week
“From a tourism standpoint, what we really want is to have people come in seven days a week,” Pivarnik said.
She added that she believes the city and its partner organization, Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce, the result of a recent merger among the Port Townsend, Tri-Area and Port Ludlow chambers, should be open to all possibilities.
The Port of Kingston’s new ferry programs manager, Eric Osnes, said he expects the Port of Kingston commissioners will finalize purchase of the Spirit this week from Silverdale-based Four Seasons Marine Service, which would lease back the vessel for the summer to use as a passenger ferry in Alaska.
The vessel cost $2.5 million.
“The region is going to benefit from this,” Osnes said.
The Port of Kingston plans to start the route in early October, with two morning and two afternoon commuter trips to Seattle every weekday, Monday through Friday.
The vessel’s hull was being painted this weekend at the port of Port Townsend boat yard while it was out of the water for inspection.
Should be permanent
Tim Caldwell, Jefferson County Ferry Advisory Committee chairman and a member of Jefferson Transit’s Citizen Advisory Committee, said that at least weekend service between Port Townsend and Seattle should be considered — and permanently.
Caldwell, the former Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce manager who left nearly two years ago to manage Puget Sound Energy’s Port Townsend’s office after 16 years with the chamber, said the chamber has been successful in bringing in temporary passenger ferry service in the past.
‘Got to be permanent’
“But we have to look beyond demonstration cruises,” Caldwell said.
“What’s real critical is, if we start it again, it’s got to be permanent.”
Caldwell said he would soon go before the Jefferson Transit board, made up of the three county commissioners and two city council members, to urge them to consider a direct Jefferson Transit bus route to the new Kingston-Seattle ferry service.
If that is not possible, at least a Jefferson-Kitsap Transit connection in Poulsbo to Kingston should be considered, he said.
Caldwell said a PSE offer of a grant to the chamber for $15,000, earmarked for future passenger ferry service, was still available.
The Kingston-Seattle ferry would cruise at a speed of between 25 and 27 knots, which would get passengers to the Seattle dock in about 35 minutes.
A fare of between $13 and $15 per round trip is under discussion, Osnes said.
A crew of three — a captain, deckhand-engineer and deckhand — would be hired.
The catamaran-style vessel was built and launched more than five years ago by All American Marine in Bellingham.
It is equipped with a hydrofoil between its double hull, a wing-like structure that lifts the boat partially out of the water during forward motion, which reduces drag, making for a smooth ride and better fuel efficiency.
________
Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@ peninsuladailynews.com.
