Everett company purchases retired WA ferry to transform into floating office

A retired Washington ferry will become a floating office after it was recently purchased by a company in Everett.

The Elwha ferry, a staple of Washington State Ferries (WSF) for more than 50 years, has been sold to Everett Ship Repair for $100,000, where it will be repurposed into a floating office and warehouse space. 

A tugboat from Western Towboat Co. began the process of moving the retired ferry from the Bainbridge Island Ferry Terminal on Jan. 30.

What they're saying:

"The Elwha has been part of Washington State Ferry history since 1968, and we're excited to see one of our ferries with so much history and memories for millions of passengers being repurposed locally," said WSF Assistant Secretary Steve Nevey. "It won’t be the Elwha we’ve all come to know and appreciate, but I'm confident it’s in good hands with a local shipyard."

The Elwha, a 144-car ferry that was part of a four-boat Super-class in the mid-60s, primarily served the Anacortes/Friday Harbor/Sidney, B.C. route before retiring in 2020. Two other ferries of the same class, the Kaleetan and Yakima, remain in service.

The backstory:

This move comes after a previous attempt to sell the Elwha and another retired ferry, Klahowya, was postponed due to difficulties towing the vessels out of Puget Sound. The two ferries were purchased for $100,000 each by Nelson Armas, a buyer from Ecuador, with plans to ship them 3,700 miles to South America. However, the tow equipment malfunctioned, leaving both ferries unable to leave Elliott Bay. As a result, the ferries were returned to the Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility on Bainbridge Island, where they had been in storage since their retirements.

What's next:

WSF still plans to sell the Klahowya and the Hyak, another retired ferry, to continue freeing up space for maintenance at its Eagle Harbor facility.

The Source: Information for this story came from a press release by the Washington State Department of Transportation.

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