Couple people (including Nate Hamilton, who shared the photo) wondered if the ferry under tow in Elliott Bay today was in trouble. We checked MarineTraffic.com for the ID, and learned it’s the new state ferry M/V Chimacum – NOT in trouble, just getting tested. Washington State Ferries spokesperson Ian Sterling confirmed that Chimacum is out on testing runs starting today. We reported last September on its christening at Vigor on Harbor Island; the ferry’s construction was finished there, after its superstructure was built at, and transported from, Nichols Brothers on Whidbey Island. Sterling says the Chimacum is expected to go into service on the Seattle-Bremerton run in late spring/early summer.

P.S. Other ferry news today … WSF announced the sale of the M/V Evergreen State.