Washington State Ferries retires first Super-class Ro-Pax

Washington State Ferries (WSF) has officially retired the 116- by 22-metre Ro-Pax Hyak after a service life spanning just over five decades.

The vessel sailed out on its final operational voyage with WSF, a trip from Seattle to Bremerton, at 21:05 local time on Sunday, June 30. Its formal decommissioning took place upon arrival at Bremerton.

With no legislative funding in the 2019-2021 state transportation budget to operate the vintage vessel, the decision was made to retire Hyak much earlier than its expected service life of 60 years.

Hyak will then go to WSF’s Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility on Bainbridge Island where crews will remove all usable equipment and prepare the vessel for sale.

The first of WSF’s four Super-class ferries and the only one of the class not to be rebuilt, Hyak was completed in 1967 and entered state service on the Seattle-Bremerton route in July of that year.

Details on the sale of Hyak will be announced in the coming months. As state property, decommissioned ferries must be sold through the state surplus process.