New ferry Chetzemoka begins sea trials

EVERETT -- The state's first new ferry in 12 years slipped out of the Everett Shipyard on Tuesday morning for a test run.

By 8:15 a.m., the Chetzemoka dropped a Kevlar towline to separate from a tugboat and started moving over the dark gray water, running on its own engines.

"It's a big moment to see it come under power and take on a life," said Tom Perrine, senior director of new construction for Todd Pacific Shipyards Corp. of Seattle.

Todd Pacific Shipyards was showing officials from Washington State Ferries and the Coast Guard how the boat runs before the state takes possession.

"We've got to get out on the water and shake it, and see what happens," said Ron Wohlfrom, project engineer with Washington State Ferries.

If all goes according to plan, the Chetzemoka will make its inaugural run Aug. 29 between Keystone on Whidbey Island and Port Townsend, its assigned route.

The Chetzemoka will serve as a permanent replacement for the state's decommissioned Steel Electric ferries. Those boats -- the Klickitat, Quinault, Illahee and Nisqually -- were built in 1927 when Calvin Coolidge was president. They were taken out of service shortly before Thanksgiving 2007 amid concerns about their rusting hulls, and were sold for scrap last summer.

Since February 2008, the run between Keystone and Port Townsend has been serviced by the Steilacoom II, a 50-vehicle ferry under lease from Pierce County.

The Chetzemoka will be a step up from its predecessors. It can carry 64 vehicles and is 274 feet long. By comparison, the Steel Electrics held 59 vehicles and were 256 feet long

The new $65.5 million boat was named after a Jamestown S'Klallam chief who befriended Port Townsend settlers in the 1850s.

From Tuesday through Thursday, it's scheduled to undergo three separate 12-hour sea tests. A crew hired by Todd Pacific Shipyards will calibrate compasses, turn on global positioning systems and ensure the ferry can start and stop with ease.

"It's up to the builder to demonstrate when you turn the switch, it comes on," Wohlfrom said.

The engine was running Tuesday, but the ferry isn't quite finished. While the sea tests were under way, workers also installed ceiling tiles. The toilets aren't up and flushing yet, either.

Those minor issues didn't concern state officials. They expect to meet their deadline, getting the ferry in service this summer.

"It's been a pretty fast-moving, pretty incredible process," Wohlfrom said.

Todd Pacific Shipyards won the contract to build the Chetzemoka in December 2008. After about six months of design work, the company began cutting steel for the ferry.

The boat slid into the water off Seattle for the first time on March 2. A tugboat brought it to the Everett Shipyard on April 3 for finishing touches. It didn't use its engines during that run.

"It's almost there," Perrine said.

Todd Pacific Shipyards also is at work on two other 64-vehicle ferries to take over for the departed Steel Electrics.

The hull is finished for Chetzemoka's sister boat, the Salish, due to join the fleet in the spring, and the company has begun work on the Kennewick, due in winter 2012.

Related stories
Read more about the crisis that led to retirement of the Steel Electric ferries at www.heraldnet.com/ferrycrisis.


Watch the Chetzemoka take shape




Inside the Steel Electric ferries