MV Tokitae

MV Tokitae is an Olympic-class passenger ferry operated by Washington State Ferries which entered service on June 30, 2014. It serves the Mukilteo-Clinton route.

Tokitae en route from Clinton to Mukilteo, 2015
History
Name	Tokitae
Owner	Washington State Department of Transportation
Operator	Washington State Ferries
Port of registry	Seattle, Washington, United States
Ordered	2011
Builder	Vigor Shipyards, Seattle, Washington
Cost	$144 million[1]
Laid down	March 29, 2012
Launched	July 19, 2013
Christened	March 20, 2014
Maiden voyage	June 30, 2014
In service	June 30, 2014
Identification	Call sign: WDH3588 IMO number: 9720160 MMSI number: 367608860
Status	In service
General characteristics
Class & type	Olympic-class auto/passenger ferry
Displacement	4,384 LT (4,454 t)
Length	362 ft 3 in (110.4 m)
Beam	83 ft 2 in (25.3 m)
Draft	18 ft (5.5 m)
Depth	24 ft 6 in (7.5 m)
Decks	5 (2 vehicle decks, passenger deck, sun deck, nav bridge deck)
Deck clearance	16 ft (4.9 m)
Installed power	6,000 hp (4,500 kW) total from two EMD 12-710G7C diesel engines
Propulsion	Diesel
Speed	17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Capacity	1,500 passengers 144 vehicles (max 34 tall vehicles)
Crew	14 (12 with sun deck closed)

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 Chinook Jargon.^[2]

MV Tokitae en route to Clinton, Whidbey Island.

Tokitae was also the earliest name of an orca that had been captured in Penn Cove, Whidbey Island. Jesse White, the veterinarian who bought the captured orca in Seattle for the Miami Seaquarium, gave her that name, but she was renamed Lolita in Miami. Orca Network promoted the choice of Tokitae for the ferry under construction, to promote the cause of returning the captive orca to her natal waters,^[3] and the Washington state government was sympathetic. The ferry's route crosses a passage where the orca and her orca community were chased during her capture.^[2][4][5]

MV Tokitae departing Mukilteo

History

Construction

MV Tokitae's superstructure arriving at Vigor Shipyards in March 2013

The contracts for the Tokitae were signed on November 1, 2011,^[6] and its keel was laid on March 29, 2012.^[7]

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.^[8]

The ferry was floated out of its dry dock and launched in Elliott Bay on July 19, 2013.^[9] 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.^[10]

Launch and early problems

The official public unveiling occurred on June 8, 2014, at the Clinton ferry terminal.^[11] The ferry made its maiden voyage on June 30, 2014.^[12] 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.^[13] In the vessel's first 13 months it lost propulsion a total of 18 times.^[14]