Seattle-Bremerton ferry route down to 1 boat after breakdown – Miami Herald

SEATTLE

The Seattle-Bremerton ferry route will be down to one-boat service starting Tuesday.

Washington State Ferries said the route will operate using the No. 2 M/V Chimacum after a steering system failure on the No. 1 M/V Salish on Sunday. WSF said only the No. 2 ferry sailings will operate while the M/V Salish is out of service, KING5 reported.

Passengers should plan ahead and give themselves extra travel time as there will likely be travel delays during peak times. The M/V Salish is expected to return to service later this week.

“Thank you for your patience while we work to maintain our fleet,” WSF said in a travel alert bulletin. “Crews will work as quickly and safely as possible to repair the boat and return the route back to full service.”

Almost every ferry route was already down boats or using smaller vessels after an engine fire on the M/V Wenatchee in April caused WSF to shuffle boats around.

Twenty-one boats comprise the Washington ferries system, the largest in the United States. But a decade without new craft has left WSF with thin operating margins, especially with a large Jumbo Mark II class ferry like the Wenatchee down for what will likely be months.