Pierce County ferry service restored to WA's Anderson Island after outage

STEILACOOM, Wash. - Pierce County ferry service between Steilacoom and Anderson and Ketron islands resumed Tuesday following a three-day mechanical breakdown that severed the primary transportation link for local residents.

The disruption began Saturday when all four propulsion signal boards on the ferry Steilacoom II failed at the same time, including the vessel's backups. With no replacement parts available in the United States, county maintenance crews were forced to rush-order replacements from British Columbia, Canada.

At the same time, the county's second ferry remained out of service for a mandatory U.S. Coast Guard inspection, leaving officials with no backup vessel to maintain the route.

Island lifeline severed

Big picture view:

The prolonged outage left Anderson Island residents without direct vehicle or cargo access to the mainland. The island lacks both a grocery store and a gas station, making daily crossings necessary for basic supplies.

"People certainly, certainly are emotional when it happens," said Jeremy Kamel, chairman of the Anderson Island Citizens' Advisory Board.

Kamel emphasized how dependent the island is on the county vessel.

"The ferry is our road and all of our essential supplies, our mail, you know, our medicines, and you know, everything comes over on the ferry," Kamel said.

Neighbors step in during crossing crisis

Local perspective:

Without public transportation across South Puget Sound, some residents turned to private watercraft to cross the passage. Kamel joined island resident "Captain" Corey Feldon to shuttle neighbors using their personal boats.

"A lot of people out here, they move to an island, they don't have a boat. When this happens, they feel stranded," Feldon said.

During one crossing, they encountered resident Richard Anderson attempting the open-water journey on a small vessel with an unusual cargo load.

"I said, 'You know what, let's take the kayaks. Let's strap my 100 pound e-bike on my kayak, and the plan was to come over here and it was squirrely as heck with the swells and whatnot,'" Anderson said.

Repairs, outreach and county policy review

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Parts arrived from Canada on Tuesday, allowing crews to complete repairs, run operational tests, and put the Steilacoom II back in rotation. As riders waited during the outage, Kamel noted that state Rep. Mari Leavitt intervened to assist island residents.

"Representative Leavitt has done an amazing job advocating for us," Kamel said.

The incident raised frustration among residents regarding emergency preparedness and alerts, prompting county officials to promise communication reforms.

"We are going to be working to rebuild trust with the community to make sure that when we have future mechanical failures, that they can rely on us for timely information," said Josh Diekmann, Pierce County director of planning and public works. "Moving forward, we're going to be looking at other private and government vessels that may be available to have additional backup options in place to limit the possibilities of any extended service outages in the future."

Kamel echoed the need for structural policy improvements.

"It's not the breakdown that people are upset about. It's just the communications and the lack of mutual aid agreements being in place, but they're working on that. They've got several, several things in the works," Kamel said.

With runs back on schedule, officials are asking travelers with nonessential plans to delay trips so passengers with urgent needs can board. Pierce County is also evaluating whether ticket agents can honor expired ferry tickets affected by the service shutdown, with details to be shared once decisions are finalized.

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