Retired state ferries sold for $100,000 each to be recycled in Ecuador

The Klahowya in her final assignment, as the inter-island vessel in the San Juan Islands. Courtesy of Brandon Swan at Evergreen Fleet.

Buyer plans to recycle Elwha and Klahowya at clean facility

SEATTLE – Two vessels that each spent more than 50 years as part of the Washington State Ferries fleet are heading to South America.

WSF has entered into purchase and sales agreements with Nelson Armas of Ecuador for Elwha and Klahowya. The sale price was $100,000 each, previously paid to WSF. 

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 facility in Ecuador. Both boats are certified to be free of hazardous materials.

A small Western Towboat Co. tug, supplied by the new owner, will take Elwha and Klahowya out of Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility on Bainbridge Island, where they are currently docked, starting at 9:30am Monday, August 19, 2024. 

Then the vessels will connect with the voyage towing tugboat Wycliffe, which will take them out of the Puget Sound. Track Wycliffe’s progress in real time using MarineTraffic.

The sale of a third decommissioned vessel, Hyak, is pending.

“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,” said WSF Assistant Secretary Steve Nevey. 

“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.”

Elwa courtesy West Coast Ferries forum

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

The final two Super-class ferries, Kaleetan and Yakima, are still in service.

Built in 1958, the 87-car Evergreen State-class Klahowya mainly served the Fauntleroy / Vashon / Southworth route. It moved to the San Juan Islands inter-island run in 2014. When Klahowya was decommissioned on July 1, 2017, sister ship Tillikum replaced it on the route.

WSF, a division of the Washington State Department of Transportation, is the largest ferry system in the U.S. and safely and efficiently carries tens of millions of people a year through some of the most majestic scenery in the world. 

For the latest service updates, sign up for rider alerts and track each ferry using the real-time map online.