Retired ferries going to South America after 50 years of service

SEATTLE — On Friday the Washington State Department of Transportation announced that two of its ferries that had been in service for 50 years were sold to a South American company.

The ferries Elwha and Klahowya were bought by Nelson Armas of Ecuador for $100,000 each, with a third, Hyak, pending sale.

According to the press release, the ferries will be recycled at a clean, green steel mill facility.

“After safely serving our customers for more than five decades each, the sale of these two retired ferries will free up our docking space so we can focus vessel maintenance needs on our current fleet,” said WSF Assistant Secretary Steve Nevey. “In addition, any time we needed to move these decommissioned boats to allow for vessel or terminal maintenance, there was a cost for a tugboat, and we needed a tow captain on board, taking away a crewmember from working on one of our routes.”

Originally constructed in the 1960s, the Hyak operated on multiple routes until its retirement in June 2019, followed by the retirement of the Elwha in April 2020. The Klahowya, built in 1958, was decommissioned in July 2017.

The new owner will use the Western Towboat Company out of Seattle to take the Elwha, Klahowya to Eagle Harbor where voyage towing tugboat Wycliffe will take the ferries out of Puget Sound.

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