PORT TOWNSEND – The run between Port Townsend and Keystone Harbor on Whidbey Island is back to two ferries – but could go back to having only one ferry on Wednesday.
Washington State Ferries officials were negotiating on Monday with the Coast Guard to attempt to extend a Wednesday deadline for taking the Nisqually out of service to remove concrete ballast from its hull, said Hadley Greene, state ferries community relations manager.
“We’re still negotiating with the Coast Guard,” she said late Monday.
The concrete ballast impedes Coast Guard inspections, plus it is no longer necessary, she said.
“They wanted us to remove the concrete so they can get a better look at the hulls.”
What is happening now is a matter of bad timing – and the Coast Guard’s increased scrutiny of the repair-plagued Nisqually and three other 1927-vintage ferries and their “continuing trend of hull failures”:
It was on the route along with the Klickitat.
The vessel was taking on water through the crack.
The Illahee was moved to Todd Pacific Shipyard in Seattle for repairs.
On Sunday. traffic in Port Townsend was snarled with 90-minute to three-hour waits for boarding when only the Klickitat was on the route after the Illahee was pulled for repairs.
Drivers were advised to taken an alternate route or use the Kingston-Edmonds ferry.
