SEATTLE — Yet another Washington state ferry will be out of commission for the foreseeable future.
The Chimacum ferry, which serviced the Seattle/Bremerton route, experienced engine failure, Washington State Ferries (WSF) confirmed to KING 5 on Monday. There is no timeline for when the ferry will be back in service, but it will be "out for an extensive time," according to WSF.
With the loss of the Chimacum, the Issaquah ferry was moved Monday from the Edmonds/Kingston route to the Seattle/Bremerton route in order to maintain one-boat service. The Edmonds/Kingston route is now operating with one boat, rather than the two it previously had.
For a brief period of time Tuesday, the Seattle/Bainbridge route also operated on one-boat service while the Issaquah ran the Fauntleroy/Southworth/Vashon route to replace the Kittitas, which was undergoing repairs.
Two-boat service was expected to resume on the Seattle/Bainbridge route Tuesday afternoon.
This continues a trend of mechanical and staffing issues WSF has faced in recent years.
The state’s ferry system is the largest fleet of its kind in the country with 21 vessels. However, the loss of the Chimacum drops the number of available ferries currently in service for WSF to 14.
The Walla Walla ferry on the Bremerton route was pulled from service in September when those aboard reported a “large vibration." WSF later confirmed that it was propeller damage that caused the vibration.
According to information from the state, on-time performance for the Washington State Ferries system declined overall between 2018 and 2022. Reliability also declined in that time frame system wide.
However, the reliability of the Seattle/Bremerton route was slightly higher in 2022 than it was in 2018, according to data from the state. On-time performance was 90.1% in 2018 and 91.5% in 2022.
The same cannot be said about the Edmonds/Kingston route. On-time performance for that route was 94.2% in 2018 and 89% in 2022.