‘Hard landing’ at Colman Dock delays Seattle/Bainbridge Island ferry route

The Seattle/Bainbridge ferry route was restricted to one-boat service Monday morning, after what’s being described as a “hard landing” at Colman Dock along the Seattle waterfront.

According to Washington State Ferries spokesperson Ian Sterling, a boat ran into a wall of the slip around 7:30 a.m., breaking pieces of wood off and damaging the vessel in the process.

“The dock did was it was supposed to do — it broke before the boat,” Sterling told KIRO Newsradio. “But there are some broken wood and things on one of the wing walls, which is a structure that helps keep the boat in place while we’re loading and offloading cars and people.”

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“So, not a great situation,” he added.

After service was reduced to one boat for the morning, two-boat service was restored in the afternoon.

WSF will be conducting an investigation in the meantime, which will include mandatory drug and alcohol tests on crew members.

“But obviously this is the first step in an investigation that hopefully will just end up being a fender bender,” Sterling clarified.

Elsewhere, strong winds have briefly canceled Monday’s Port Townsend/Coupeville route, while the Fauntleroy Terminal to Vashon Island and Southworth was temporarily closed due to a worn cable, before reopening around 1 p.m.

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