PORT TOWNSEND — State ferries system officials hope to announce the date of the MV Salish’s first sailing after an inspection of the boat Monday, said Marta Coursey, Washington State Ferries spokeswoman, on Friday
A community celebration welcoming the 64- vehicle Salish is scheduled Thursday in Port Townsend.
“It remains our best intention to have the vessel ready for service the following day,” Coursey said in an email.
“We are really excited at the possibility of returning the route to full service in time for the Fourth of July, but we can’t guarantee an in-service date until we are completely confident that we are ready to set sail with passengers,” she added.
Thursday’s party will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Port Townsend ferry terminal.
People on both sides of the route are expected to attend.
An open house showing off the new ferry is set from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Port Gamble S’Klallam, Jamestown S’Klallam and Lower Elwha Klallam tribes will present a welcoming ceremony with speeches, singing, dancing and drumming.
The Salish is the sister ferry to the MV Chetzemoka, which began serving the route in November.
When it begins service on the Port Townsend-Coupeville run, it will be the first time the route has been serviced by two boats since the long-running Steel Electrics were taken out of service in 2007.
The Salish and the Chetzemoka will operate in tandem, and both will dock in Port Townsend at the end of each day, Coursey has said.
Until Sept. 25
Both ferries will operate on the route until Sept. 25, at which time one of the boats will be used to cover routes throughout the system as boats are taken in for servicing, the state ferries system said.
Two-boat service on the Port Townsend-Coupeville route will resume in the spring.
The Salish is the second of three Kwa-di Tabil Class boats contracted by the state at a cost of $213.2 million and built by Todd Pacific Shipyards in Seattle.
The first was the Chetzemoka. The third, the MV Kennewick, is destined for the Point Defiance-to-Tahlequah route once it enters service sometime in the winter.
After Hammond pulled the Steel Electric ferries from service, the route was serviced by the MV Steilacoom II, which was leased from Pierce County until the Chetzemoka began operation in November.
The Salish has been added to the state ferries system’s VesselWatch website at www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/vesselwatch.
Visitors to the site last week could see the location of the boat during sea trials and crew member training.
For more information about the state’s new ferries, visit http://tinyurl.com/27fxjkd.
