What’s with the big blue ship in Commencement Bay? Here’s what we know.
If you gazed at Commencement Bay this week, you may have seen a massive white-and-blue shipping vessel floating in the sound.
For those with a curiosity for sizable seacraft, look no further. That’s the Ruby Ace, a Japanese vehicle carrier transporting new cars from Asia to the United States.
The vessel measures 199.99 meters in length and 32.26 meters in width, according to the Marine Traffic website. That translates to about 655.84 feet long and 105.84 feet wide.
The vessel arrived in Tacoma on Monday, dropping off 435 Nissans and Inifinitis, as well as 71 Isuzu chassis, said Keven Snyder, the Northwest Seaport Alliance waterway coordinator.
“Anytime you see a ship like that coming into Tacoma that is going to be anything from Volvos to Nissans to Kia to Mazda, Mitsubishi,” Snyder said. “Some of those go locally. And then there’s a fair number of them that get put on rail cars and shipped back to the Midwest, Chicago, Kansas City, [...] and some of the ports down in the LA Long Beach area feeding the rest of the country.”
It’s due to depart Saturday at 3:30 p.m. to drop off 2,794 more cars in New Westminster, Canada.
