01/14/2008: "Now The Klahowya Replaces The Evergreen -- What Next?"

The New WSF Plan: The Klahowya arrived Sunday to replace the Evergreen State, which will replace the Klahowya on the Talequah-Pt. Defiance run at the south end of Vashon Island.

Alex McLeod, the chair of the FAC (SJC Ferry Advissory Committee) said “ WSF can't say when the Evergreen State, which was supposed to go out-of-service for hull repairs and engine rebuilds next week, now will go into dry dock. Whenever it begins, it will be out a minimum of six weeks. The odds are overwhelming that it will not be in time to return to inter-island service by the start of the spring schedule.”

McLeod told the Island Guardian “the Klahowya, also an Evergreen class ferry, was developing engine problems on that short route because its engine never got hot enough. The Rhododendron, the usual ferry on that route, has been out of service since early December when a Coast Guard inspection found serious hull problems. It is scheduled to get into the Todd drydock, along with the Chelan, on Monday”.

The Hiyu will come out of Dakota Creek early in the first week of February, not next Wednesday as WSF said earlier this week, and will replace the Klahowya. It will be the inter-island boat "indefinitely." McLeod said “That doesn't bode well for us.”

McLeod add that all of this “this makes a couple of things abundantly clear:

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WSF has screwed up its maintenance schedule so badly that it finds itself now with eight boats that must, by Coast Guard rule, be in dry dock within the next 120 days. With only two dry docks that can handle ferries, that's a mayor problem.

WSF told the legislature on Friday that the problem is a lack of dry dock capacity, not a lack of management. However, the number of dry docks hasn't changed. WSF is hoping to get the Coast Guard to give it some additional flexibility

The decision to scrap all four steel electrics, based on the inspection of just one, was a mistake that will roll through the entire system for at least the next couple of years. It leaves WSF with no back-up. It is hard to imagine a scenario where there wouldn't be a significant impact up here, especially since we're already experiencing that and it's the dead of winter.

The WSF news release (related story) , makes it sound like the reason for the change in plans is the unavailability of the Hiyu until sometimes in early February. The real reason is WSF needs a boat that can run at Talequah, and it doesn't have any spares."