(September 11, 2023, photo courtesy “Boating Motes”)

Washington State Ferries, long strapped for vessels, is going to be without one of its biggest boats for an extra year. WSF announced this morning that the conversion of M/V Wenatchee to hybrid-electric, under way for about a year at Vigor on Harbor Island (the photo above is from the day it was towed there), won’t be complete until next summer. The work was supposed to be complete by now. WSF’s announcement says it’s not just conversion work but also “the necessary and long-planned upgrade to its aging propulsion system” that’s under way. The announcement quotes WSF’s System Electrification Program administrator Matt von Ruden as saying, “There are no issues with the technology itself, but as is common with major vessel retrofits, we have faced some challenges in working this new technology into the existing vessel.” They’ll be applying lessons learned to the next two Jumbo Mark II class ferries scheduled for conversion at Vigor; WSF says the next one, M/V Tacoma, won’t be taken out of service until Wenatchee is back in operation. So far the remaining work includes installation of thousands of feet of electric and fiber optic cable plus installation of battery modules, and once all the work’s done, they’ll have at least a month of sea trials and other testing. The conversion will give the ferries the ability to run on diesel, battery, or hybrid-diesel battery. Though these boats don’t serve the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth run, news of the longer downtime is of note systemwide with the ongoing vessel shortage.

ADDED 1:26 PM: We asked WSF spokesperson Suanne Pelley specifically about any Triangle Route impacts. First, she reiterated that Tacoma won’t go in until Wenatchee is out. Here’s the response:

In the big picture, we will not begin conversion and propulsion work on the Tacoma, the next of our largest vessels to undergo hybrid-electric conversion, until the Wenatchee returns to service so this news does not change the immediate status of available vessels. The Chimacum, a 144-car Olympic Class vessel, will continue to run on the Seattle/Bainbridge route while Wenatchee is out.

For Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth, we will continue to operate the third “bonus” boat when we have crew and a vessel available. Starting on Sunday, with the start of fall schedule, we expect to be able to run the third, unscheduled vessel seven days a week instead of M-F as we’ve been doing all summer, providing more consistency and helping to keep the weekend service on schedule.