EVERETT — It’s not every day the Millennium Falcon arrives in Everett.
A cargo ship with the name the Millennium Falcon docked at the Port of Everett early Friday morning and departed Saturday.
And that leads to a host of questions: How did it get that name? What’s the back story? And can it make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs?
Unfortunately, the answers aren’t too clear.
The ship is chartered by ECL Americas, a shipping line based in Orange County. Bill Christ, ECL vice president, doesn’t know why it’s named the Millennium Falcon although it’s no doubt named after the ship in Star Wars.
He made calls to Tokyo, where the ship is based, but was told that the people who were working there when it arrived years ago no longer work for the company.
It’s been a part of the company ever since Christ started working with ECL nearly seven years ago.
“You get used to it, we’ve got a lot of ships and there’s a lot of names out there,” Christ said. “I don’t know if there’s anything fun or exciting about it. It’s a just a good work boat.”
Christ adds that he hopes ECL didn’t have to pay Lucas Films for the naming rights.
He does note that a company in Long Beach has a tugboat named the Millennium Falcon.
This will probably be the last trans-Pacific run that this Millennium Falcon makes at least for ECL Americas. The ship is scheduled to make a couple of voyages to Southeast Asia after it returns to Tokyo.
And then the charter is running out later this year. It will revert back to its Taiwanese owners and what they will do with the ship is unclear.
“She’s an old lady and she’s on her last legs,” Christ said.
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