The 53-year-old state ferry Columbia resumed mainline sailings between Alaska and Washington state on June 18, more than a month later than originally scheduled when it began a maintenance layup last November.
The Columbia left Ketchikan on June 18 for Bellingham to start its weekly summer runs between the Washington state port and Southeast Alaska communities, providing one stop a week northbound and one southbound through Wrangell.
The ferry replaced the Kennicott, which will spend the summer tied to the dock in Ketchikan for lack of crew to staff more than one ship on the popular mainline route.
The Columbia, which has about twice the vehicle deck space of the Kennicott, was originally scheduled to return from its winter layover on May 6, but that date was pushed back to May 20 and then June 5 and then to June 18, necessitating the state to keep the Kennicott on the job to cover the run.
Though the Kennicott is scheduled to remain out of service for the summer, it would be able to fill in for the Columbia or on other routes if needed during the coming months, said Gabe Strong, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Transportation.
