Name Tokitae Cost $144 million Launched 19 July 2013 Builder Vigor Shipyards | Ordered 2011 Construction started 29 March 2012 Length 110 m | |
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Owner Washington State Department of Transportation Operator Washington State Ferries Port of registry Seattle, WA, United States | ||
Mv tokitae open house
The MV Tokitae is an Olympic-class passenger ferry operated by Washington State Ferries which entered service on the Mukilteo-Clinton route on June 30, 2014.
Contents
Orcas from the mv tokitae
Naming
On November 13, 2012, the Washington State Transportation Commission named the ferry Tokitae. Tokitae is a colloquial greeting that means "nice day, pretty colors" in the language of the Coast Salish indigenous people. It is also the name of an orca captured at Penn Cove, Whidbey Island, which was renamed "Lolita" and now performs at the Miami Seaquarium.
Construction
The contracts for the Tokitae were signed on November 1, 2011, and its keel was laid on March 29, 2012.
The Tokitae's hull was rolled out of the Vigor construction building onto a drydock on March 2, 2013. It was joined by the completed superstructure the following week; it was built by Nichols Brothers Boat Builders of Freeland, a community on Whidbey Island.
The ferry was floated out of its dry dock and launched in Elliott Bay on July 19, 2013. The Tokitae was christened by state Secretary of Transportation Lynn Peterson on March 20, 2014 at Vigor, during a ceremony opened to the media, officials and workers.
Launch
The official public unveiling occurred on June 8, 2014, at the Clinton ferry terminal. The ferry made its maiden voyage on June 30, 2014. The Tokitae's first week of service was marred by a hydraulic leak and a design flaw that caused cars to scrape against the car ramps.
On April 13, 2015, with 174 passengers on board, the Tokitae lost one of its engines and went dead in the water for about an hour. The vessel used a tug to get to Mukilteo where the passengers disembarked. The Tokitae then drifted around Possession Sound until the problem was fixed.
The Tokitae had lost propulsion a total of 18 times in its first 13 months, causing frequent delays. Regular passengers quipped that "If there's a delay, it's probably the Tokitae".