SEATTLE (AP) — Washington state’s first new ferry in more than a decade will make its inaugural run Sunday from Whidbey Island to Port Townsend with Gov. Chris Gregoire and a boatload of 300 other officials and invited guests.
The Transportation Department says the ferry begins regularly scheduled service on Monday on the Port Townsend-Coupeville run.
The ferry is called the Chetzemoka (Chet-za-mocha), after a former chief of the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe who befriended Olympic Peninsula settlers.
It can carry 64 cars and 750 people. The $77 million ferry was built by Puget Sound shipyards. It was scheduled to go into service in August but was delayed to fix vibrations discovered during sea trials.
The state plans to build two more ferries in that class.
