KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) – The Kennicott, a ferry in the Alaska Marine Highway System, set sail earlier this month from the Ketchikan Shipyard with more than $13 million in repairs and refurbishments complete.
The ferry, which underwent work over the past two winters at the shipyard, is returning to service after undergoing extensive upgrades on systems ranging from electrical, refrigeration and information technology to the vehicle elevator. The project also included adding heated windows to the bridge and a main engine overhaul, according to Tom Atwood, the project manager for AMHS.
“In the project, we did a lot of upgrades throughout the vessel,” Atwood said during a tour of the Kennicott before it went back in service.
The original contract was for about $10.5 million, but additional work pushed the price tag to around $13.8 million. The project was funded by a Federal Transit Administration grant, and work was completed over a two-winter period beginning in late 2013, according to Atwood.
The Kennicott built in 1998 is one of the AMHS' cross-gulf vessels, meaning it operates across the Gulf of Alaska, linking Southeast and Southcentral Alaska. The ferry is 382 feet long and can transport up to 499 passengers, according to its AMHS vessel profile.
“(The separate work phases) had to do with the long lead time on materials,” Atwood said. “It was a major effort on the part of everybody.”
The ship's crew, Vigor Alaska employees and local contractors and subcontractors worked on the Kennicott during its stays at the Ketchikan Shipyard.
“It's a big, cooperative effort to make this thing happen, and it came off well,” Atwood said. “Without the different teams working together, we wouldn't have been able to produce (the Kennicott upgrades) on time. And it's a big feather in Vigor Alaska's cap that they're able to do this, because this is a major piece of work. When you have this amount of work going on, it's a big, big deal, and then, at the same time, they're still maintaining the rest of our fleet.”
Vigor Alaska is the private company that operates the Ketchikan Shipyard under a long-term agreement with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, which owns the shipyard.
Capt. John Falvey, AMHS general manager, said during the tour that federal capital improvement projects such as the Kennicott upgrades are what are needed to keep AMHS ferries in shape.
“Every ship goes through a state overhaul either in this shipyard or in Seward's shipyard every year, and we spend a certain amount of state capital dollars for our certifications, our inspections and minor maintenance,” Falvey said.
Both Falvey and Atwood complimented the work Vigor Alaska and local companies did on the Kennicott, along with the partnership between AMHS and Vigor Alaska.
While the upgrades to the Kennicott made it better suited for spending its time on the water, one change will leave passengers a little drier during voyages.
“This will be the first of the mainliners that do have bars to have the bar removed, and we'll be serving beer and wine out of the cafeterias,” Falvey said about the cost-cutting measure.
Doug Ward, director of shipyard development for Vigor Alaska, said during a recent phone interview that the Kennicott project helped the shipyard support 25 full-time equivalent positions.
“These major refurbishments always result in growth,” Ward said. “One of the advantages of being a part of Vigor Industrial is that, on a project of this magnitude, we can perform this volume of work with all the varied requirements, by having a larger corporation like Vigor, where we have an array of skilled craftsman we can bring in. Having a project this complex was probably mutually beneficial to AMHS and Vigor by having it done in Ketchikan.”
Vigor Alaska used several local businesses, including Rhineco Inc., Schmolck Mechanical Contractors, Madison Lumber and Hardware, Napa Auto, PC Hydraulics, Tyler Rentals, Pacific Pride, Tyler Industrial, Tongass Trading, the Best Western Plus Landing Hotel and Alaska Marine Lines during the Kennicott project, according to Ward.
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