Washington State Ferries (WSF) – a division of the Washington State Department of Transportation – recently sold its retired Elwha ferry vessel for $100,000; a vessel destined to become a floating office building and warehouse for the Everett Ship Repair, one of WSF’s maintenance partners.
[Above photo by WSDOT]
The 144-car Elwha was one of four Super-class ferries built in the mid-1960s. Elwha mainly served the Anacortes/Friday Harbor/Sidney, British Columbia route before being retired April 8, 2020. Two super-class ferries, Kaleetan and Yakima, are still in service.
WSF said it hopes to eventually sell and transfer two remaining retired boats, Klahowya and Hyak, to free more dock space at its Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility for planned and unplanned maintenance on its current fleet.
“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 is being repurposed locally,” noted Steve Nevey, WSF’s assistant secretary, in a statement. “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.”
WSF noted in a separate statement that it welcomed nearly 500,000 more people aboard its vessels in 2024 compared to 2023, with ridership for 2024 totaling more than 19.1 million, up 2.6 percent from 2023.
WSF added that it notched the lowest number of canceled sailings in 2024 since 2020 and experienced a big jump in walk-on passengers; a spike in walk-ons of 224,000, or 5.7 percent, as tourism and a return to the office for many workers increased substantially. Passengers with vehicles climbed by a more modest 102,000, or 1.1 percent, the agency said.
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