Kitsap Transit has indefinitely suspended its Annapolis to Bremerton passenger foot ferry service following a catastrophic electrical propulsion failure aboard the M/V Waterman, exposing acute vulnerabilities in early-generation hybrid-electric maritime transit.
Kitsap Transit immediately grounded the run, leaving the 138-space waterfront parking lot at Annapolis stranded and forcing passengers to scramble for morning transit connections.
Because early commercial marine electrification lacked standardized modular enclosures, every software handshake, thermal coolant loop, and battery management circuit was custom-configured for the vessel's original battery modules.
Commuters who normally board foot ferries at the Annapolis pier are being directed to travel three miles west along Bay Street to the Port Orchard ferry dock.
Vessel records in Kitsap Transit ferry fleet records confirm that the Carlisle II, built in 1917, remains the oldest continuously operating commercial passenger ferry in Puget Sound, serving local waterfront communities across more than a century of Puget Sound maritime history.
Kitsap Transit indefinitely halts its Annapolis foot ferry after an irreparable lithium-ion battery failure on the hybrid M/V Waterman, turning to the historic 1917 Carlisle II ahead of a Coast Guard drydock deadline.