MV Hiyu

History

Name:	MV Hiyu
Owner:	WSDOT
Operator:	Washington State Ferries
Port of registry:	Seattle, Washington, US
Builder:	Gunderson Brothers, Portland, Oregon
Cost:	$750,000 (1967)
Completed:	1967
In service:	Summer 1967
Out of service:	May 17, 2016
Identification:	Official Number: 508159 Call Sign: WX9133^[1]
Status:	Retired
General characteristics
Class and type:	Hiyu-class auto/passenger ferry
Length:	162 ft (49.4 m)
Beam:	63 ft 1 in (19.2 m)
Draft:	11 ft 3 in (3.4 m)
Deck clearance:	15 ft (4.6 m)
Installed power:	Total 860 hp from 2 diesel engines
Speed:	10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Capacity:	200 passengers 34 vehicles (max 12 commercial)^[2]

The MV Hiyu was a ferry boat operated by Washington State Ferries. Originally built in 1967 to replace an earlier ferry, it was used on the Point Defiance–Tahlequah route during its early years. Upon its retirement in 2016, it was the smallest ferry in the fleet, with a capacity of 34 cars and 200 passengers, and a length of 162 feet (49 m).^[1]

History

The Hiyu was originally built in 1967 by Gunderson Brothers in Portland, Oregon to replace the aging wooden ferry MV Skansonia on the Point Defiance–Tahlequah ferry, which had a capacity of 32 cars at the time and a clearance of 11 feet (3.4 m) on her car deck. The Hiyu was slightly bigger and faster than her predecessor, but most importantly, she had a higher clearance in her two center lanes, allowing trucks to reach Vashon Island without having to drive to Fauntleroy.^[3]

The Hiyu worked the short route between Vashon Island and Tacoma until the late-1980s. By then, she could no longer handle the increased traffic on the route and was replaced with the 55-car MV Olympic.^[3]^[4]

Washington State Ferries reassigned her to the San Juan Islands where she served as the inter-island boat, serving San Juan Island, Orcas Island, Shaw Island and Lopez Island. By the late-1990s, the Hiyu's small size became an issue once again on the San Juan inter-island route, and she was replaced by a larger vessel, the MV Nisqually.^[3]

She was mothballed for over 10 years at Washington State Ferries' maintenance facility in Eagle Harbor. During that period, she was mainly used as a WSF training vessel. She was also used for filming some movies and television commercials, including a commercial for the Seattle Seahawks football team in 1999. Occasionally, she was contracted out for service on the Steilacoom-Anderson Island ferry route when the MV Christine Anderson needed emergency repairs.^[3]

During this time, WSF considered selling this ferry. The Washington State Department of Corrections was interested in using her for service to their prison on McNeil Island. There were also plans to sell her to Whatcom County for them to use at Lummi Island or for ferry service between Blaine and Point Roberts. In the end, nothing came of the plans to sell the Hiyu.^[3]

In June 2007, Washington State Ferries put the Hiyu back in service once again between Point Defiance and Tahlequah when the MV Rhododendron encountered rudder problems. At the time, Hiyu was the only other ferry available to cover for the Rhody.^[1]

On November 20, 2007, the four Steel Electric-class ferries were removed from service, leaving Hiyu as the only back-up ferry in the fleet. Since then, she has continued to serve as a back-up ferry, but cannot provide enough capacity on any of WSF's routes. She also cannot be made ADA-accessible. In the governor's proposed budget for 2009, the Hiyu was slated to be permanently assigned to the Point Defiance-Tahlequah route to allow for the Rhododendron's retirement. The legislature did not approve this proposal, so the Rhododendron remained in service until 2012 when the 64-car MV Chetzemoka replaced her.^[1]

The Hiyu proved useful in December 2012 when three ferries, the Walla Walla, Sealth and Klahowya, were taken out of service and the Hiyu was put on the Vashon-Southworth-Fauntleroy run for six days while repairs were made.

On November 25, 2013, the local TV station KING 5 reported that, since January 2012, WSF had spent $710,000 keeping engineers on the boat almost every day, but that it was only in service for eight days during that time. The head of WSF, David Moseley, said that the expense was minimal, amounting to less than one percent of the total cost of labor for engineers.^[5] At the time, WSF was building two new 144-car Olympic-class ferries which entered service in 2014 and 2015. One of them will allow WSF to have a more adequate backup ferry.^[6]

After a year without service, the Hiyu was put back to work in January 2014 on the San Juan Interisland route to cover for the Evergreen State which had broken down. The Hiyu was in service during two days until the regular ferry was repaired.^[7] On July 23, 2015, the Hiyu was put in service for the last time, sailing on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route, which was otherwise running on a 2-boat schedule due to vessel moves elsewhere in the WSF system, which were made to accommodate emergency repairs to the M/V Puyallup and M/V Elwha while maintaining reasonable service throughout the WSF system.^[8] On May 17, 2016, WSDOT announced that the Hiyu had been officially retired and that it would soon be put up for sale.^[8]^[9] As of October 11, 2016 the Hiyu is under auction by the State of Washington Surplus Operations, ending October 18, 2016.^[10]

References

1 2 3 4 The M/V Hiyu, evergreenfleet.com
↑ Vessel information - M/V Hiyu, WSF, WSDOT
1 2 3 4 5 "The Mighty Hiyu". EvergreenFleet.com. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
↑ "The M/V OLYMPIC". EvergreenFleet.com. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
↑ Frame, Susannah (25 November 2013). "Employees paid to babysit rarely used ferry". KING 5. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
↑ Goldenberg, Jay. "Olympic Class (144-car) Ferries". WSDOT. Washington State Ferries. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
↑ David Moseley's Jan 24, 2014 weekly update, wsdot.wa.gov
1 2 Friedrich, Ed (17 May 2016). "Ferry system ready to say bye-bye to Hiyu". Kitsap Sun. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
↑ Bender, Broch (17 May 2016). "Fleet's smallest – and cutest – ferry to be retired and sold". WSDOT. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
↑ http://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/auction/view?auc=1699398

Washington State Ferries

Routes

Anacortes–San Juan Islands Edmonds–Kingston Fauntleroy–Vashon–Southworth Mukilteo–Clinton Point Defiance–Tahlequah Port Townsend–Coupeville Seattle–Bainbridge Seattle–Bremerton

Terminals

Colman Dock (Seattle)

Current fleet

Jumbo Mark-II-class	MV Tacoma MV Wenatchee MV Puyallup

Jumbo-class	MV Spokane MV Walla Walla

Super-class	MV Hyak MV Kaleetan MV Yakima MV Elwha

Olympic-class	MV Tokitae MV Samish MV Chimacum (under construction) MV Suquamish (under construction)

Issaquah 130-class	MV Cathlamet MV Chelan MV Issaquah MV Kitsap MV Kittitas

Issaquah-class	MV Sealth

Evergreen State-class	MV Klahowya MV Tillikum

Kwa-di Tabil-class	MV Chetzemoka MV Salish MV Kennewick

Retired fleet

Steel Electric-class	MV Enetai MV Illahee MV Klickitat MV Nisqually MV Quinault MV Willapa

Wood Electric-class	MV Chetzemoka (1927) MV Kehloken MV Klahanie

Evergreen State-class	MV Evergreen State

Skagit Kalama-class	MV Kalama MV Skagit

Passenger-Only Fast Ferry-class	MV Chinook MV Snohomish

No Class	MV Chippewa MV Crosline MV Hiyu MV Kalakala MV Kitsap (1925) MV Kulshan MV Leschi MV Olympic MV Rhododendron MV Rosario MV Saksnonia MV Tyee MV Vashon SS San Mateo SS Shasta

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