Skagit County Ferry News

Community Meeting with Board of Commissioners

When: August 29, 2017, at 5:30 p.m.

Where: Guemes Island Community Center – 7549 Guemes Island Road

What: Discuss the Ferry Replacement Project

Who: Skagit County Board of Commissioners, Captain Rachel Rowe, Glosten

We encourage all Skagit County residents to attend, learn about and discuss the Ferry Replacement Project. Board of Commissioners Chair Ron Wesen, Commissioner Ken Dahlstedt and Commissioner Lisa Janicki, along with Public Works staff and a Glosten representative, will discuss this critical replacement project with Guemes Island and county residents.

Learn about our plan to use all-electric technology

The ferry replacement discussion ramped up in 2015 when all-electric propulsion for ferries became a reality as the Ampere, the world’s first all-electric vehicle and passenger ferry, entered service in Norway.

In 2016, at the direction of the Board Commissioners, we conducted a propulsion study that concluded, based on power requirements, all-electric propulsion was highly feasible and should be considered, for the Guemes Island Ferry route.

In 2017, Skagit County issued a Request for Proposals for a naval architecture & marine engineering firm to provide design services for the new vessel and support through vessel procurement and construction. We selected Glosten, a naval architecture firm from Seattle. Work on a design study, propulsion trade-off analysis, concept and preliminary design will begin in early August. Glosten representatives will be available to discuss their scope of work and answer questions.

A new vessel could be in service as early as 2020

For more information, visit www.skagitcounty.net/ferry and click on link for the Ferry Replacement Project.