What happens to a Washington ferry after it’s retired?

Two vessels retired from the Washington State Ferry’s fleet — the Elwha and the Klahowya — were part of WSF for more than 50 years. But now that they’re off the water, what exactly happens to them?

Washington State Ferries (WSF) is in the midst of a purchase and sales agreement with Nelson Armas of Ecuador for the two vessels. The sale price, according to a news release from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), was $100,000 each, previously paid to WSF.

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With approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration, the new owner plans to transport the ferries by tow for recycling at a clean, green steel mill factory in Ecuador.

The vessels were supposed to be towed by a small Western Towboat Co. tug on Monday. However, their departure was postponed due to a malfunction of tow equipment used by the prospective buyer. The vessels have therefore been returned to Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility on Bainbridge Island. WSDOT said there is no revised tow plan at this time.

When the ferries are eventually towed by the tug boat, they will connect with the voyage towing tugboat Wycliffe, which will take them out of the Puget Sound. Those interested can track Wycliffe’s progress in real time using MarineTraffic.

“After safely serving our customers for more than five decades each, the sale of these two retired ferries will free up our docking space so we can focus vessel maintenance needs on our current fleet,” WSF Assistant Secretary Steve Nevey said, according to the release. “In addition, any time we needed to move these decommissioned boats to allow for vessel or terminal maintenance, there was a cost for a tugboat, and we needed a tow captain on board, taking away a crewmember from working on one of our routes.”

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WSDOT said the sale of the third decommissioned vessel, Hyak, is pending. More information will be released when the transaction is finalized.

Details on the retired Washington ferries

The 144-car Elwha and Hyak are two of four Super-class ferries built in the 1960s, according to WSDOT. Elwha mainly served the Anacortes/Friday Harbor/Sidney, British Columbia, route before being retired on April 8, 2020. Hyak was primarily used on the Seattle/Bremerton route and was decommissioned on June 30, 2019. It is now docked at Kingston terminal.

WSDOT added the two final Super-class ferries are the Kaleetan and the Yakima which are still in service.

The 87-car Klahowya was built in 1958 and mainly served the Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth route. It moved to the San Juan Islands interisland run in 2014 and was decommissioned on July 1, 2017. Its sister ship Tillikum replaced it on the route.

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.