The ferry Walla Walla, which made a hard landing in the Port of Edmonds Wednesday morning, sustained damage that led to the cancellation of several sailings and two-hour delays for motorists. After a thorough inspection, the U.S. Coast Guard declared the vessel fit for continued operation and cleared it to return to the route by that evening. There were no injuries, but while damage assessment and necessary repairs were underway, the critical Edmonds–Kingston crossing was left with only one operating ferry.
Key evening sailings were canceled, causing major disruption on the state of Washington’s second-busiest ferry route. While the Walla Walla was in dry dock, the ferry Puyallup carried the entire load, but that proved insufficient — by 3 p.m. queues on both sides of the crossing were estimated at two hours. The situation only eased after the damaged vessel received formal permission to resume service at 5:30 p.m.
The incident is the latest in a string of technical problems plaguing the aging ferry, which was built in 1972. Earlier this year a broken propeller blade was found on the Walla Walla, keeping the vessel in dry dock for more than a week. In 2023 the ferry suffered a serious accident — it grounded near Bainbridge Island after a loss of power and control caused by biological contamination of fuel tanks, and later that same year it again lost a propeller. These incidents underscore the broader issue of the state’s aging ferry fleet.
Based on: Walla Walla returning to Edmonds-Kingston route after hard landing