PORT TOWNSEND — Sequim trucking firm owner Gary Parrish is chugging uphill when it comes to moving Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill’s product between Port Townsend and Canada.
With truckloads exceeding the Steilacoom II vehicle ferry’s 80,000-pound weight limit, his Parrish Trucking Inc. fleet travels more than 40 miles farther from the mill to Kingston.
Parrish drivers then take the ferry to Edmonds to hop on Interstate 5 north to Port Townsend Paper’s Boxmaster plants in Vancouver and Richmond, British Columbia, where the mill’s kraft paper goes into cardboard boxes.
Add soaring diesel fuel prices that come to about $12,000 a month, ferry fares averaging about $15,000 a month and driver time for the trip of about 175 miles each way, and there’s no question that Parrish faces challenging times.
“We ship between 140 and 150 loads a month for the mill,” Parrish said.
Come May 2009, Parrish anticipates an even harder blow to the four-truck company he has owned since 1983: Hood Canal Bridge closes for six weeks to replace its eastern half.
“The big problem is going to be when they shut that floating bridge down,” Parrish said.
“Our only option is to go around Hood Canal. Can you imagine going to Canada by going to Shelton?
“Plus you’ve got Tacoma traffic, you’ve got Seattle traffic, you’ve got Everett traffic.”
He even sees a trip to Olympia as a more feasible option to avoid the dangerous stretch of state Highway 3 between Shelton and Bremerton.
It adds about 100 miles more between Olympia and Edmonds, he said.
This is why Parrish agrees with Port Townsend city and business leaders who support a temporary Port-Townsend-Edmonds vehicle ferry to compensate for the bridge closure.
