Over the weekend, the Salish went out of service after experiencing a steering control issue.
“Obviously, that’s a pretty big issue. If you’re in an airplane, and you lose steering, (that’s) not good. If you’re in a car, and you lose steering, (that’s) not good,” said Ian Sterling with the Washington State Department of Transportation. “I sure wouldn’t want to be in control of that boat when you lose steering. I’m sure it was a pretty big shock to the people out there, and they did exactly as they’re trained to do: got the thing stopped and back into dock.”
Luckily, the Spokane was available to sub in at the Seattle/Bremerton ferry terminal. Unluckily, the Spokane will also be out of commission starting Tuesday because it’s due for routine maintenance.
“(Seattle/Bremerton is) an hourlong run in the best of times, so you could be looking at two hours in between ferries between Bremerton and Seattle. That’s an awful long time if you’ve got a vehicle,” Sterling said. “We’re just really short on vessels, and that’s, unfortunately, the way it’s going to be for quite some time. ... When things go wrong, there’s an instant effect on service. And that’s the situation we’ve got with the Salish.”
The temporary loss of the Salish adds to the growing problem of fewer ferries, Sterling said.
“In a normal year, it takes 19 vessels to maintain summer service. We’re down to 16,” Sterling said. “This isn’t Plan A or Plan B. We’re down to Plan C or D. Anything else that goes wrong, all it takes is one stray to get tangled up with a ferry or steering system failure — anything like that will have an impact on service, and it will be felt immediately by the route that it’s on.”
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