Page 34: of Marine News Magazine (January 2016)

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FERRIES & PASSENGER VESSELS

Ferry Follies “Tokitae” means “nice day, pretty colors” in Coast Salish. Yet 2014 proved to be a summer of horrors for

WSF’s ferry chief. Staf? ng shortages sometimes cancelled sailings. In July, the Tacoma lost propulsion on the

Bainbridge Island to Seattle run and had to be towed back to Bainbridge

Island. Repairs cost $1.8 million. The 202-car Wenatchee was already out of service, making two of the state’s three largest ferries unusable. In Au- gust, Seattle’s KING-TV ran a story pointing out that the ferry system was attempting to sell never-used genera- tors it had bought for $5.3 million in 2005 for the sum of $300,000. There are still no takers.

On August 15, in Bremerton, WSF allowed some 1,600 passengers onto a ferry bound for a preseason Seahawks game in Seattle. Ferry staff mistaken- ly thought they had allowed too many passengers and called in state troopers to have 500 debark. Only later did the ferry system staff realize they had been wrong on capacity. But the PR dam- age was done.

Ferry employees were understand- ably demoralized. The WSF ferry chief wanted to move on. Not ? nd- ing a suitable replacement, Peterson called off the ? rst search. At $145,000 a year, the job wasn’t tempting to many from the private sector.

But then the stranded Tacoma and the mistaken passenger count in

Bremerton tugged at Lynne Grif? th’s heartstrings. Grif? th, a 36-year vet- eran of the transportation industry, said, “I saw they had serious opera- tional issues. My goal was to come on board and stabilize the situation.

That’s what I do.”

Washington State Governor Jay Inslee welding the initials of his grandchild “BRI” at the keel laying ceremony for the state’s newest ferry, the Samish, at Vigor Industrial Seattle shipyard.

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