LUMMI ISLAND, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The Lummi Island ferry is officially getting a replacement.

The Whatcom County Council voted on Nov. 6 to approve a 20-car hybrid diesel-electric ferry to replace the previous Whatcom Chief ferry.

The county has been in talks to change the ferry service for nearly two decades according to County Executive Satpal Sidhu.

“My expert staff have worked for years to bring this ferry project to fruition,” Sidhu said as he introduced the resolution to the council on Nov. 6. “Yet I believe we are facing an impossible task with the escalating cost and the ferry size. I have faith in my staff to pivot quickly and to see this project to completion with a reduced scope.”

Whatcom’s Ferry Advisory Committee sent a memo to the council in which they debated whether to go with a smaller 20-car ferry rather than a larger 34-car vessel. The memo says a smaller vessel can take more trips—three an hour—compared to the larger option’s two trips per hour.

According to Public Works Director Elizabeth Kosa, the hybrid ferry would have lower environmental impacts than the former Whatcom Chief.

“We are at a critical mass with this system and it is a crisis,” she said. “We need to get the terminal infrastructure repaired and we need to replace this extremely aging vessel.”

Kosa says that staff will have vessel options and financing plans later this year.