Columbia misses week over mechanical issues

The sole ferry linking the region’s seaside communities has had to skip a week of its winter schedule due to mechanical problems.

Alaska Marine Highway System reported the M/V Columbia has had to remain in Bellingham, Washington, after its arrival last Friday. On its approach to the dock there its bow-side maneuvering thruster stopped working.

AMHS public information officer Aurah Landau explained the thruster is a necessary feature for the vessel, particularly during winter weather conditions and while navigating narrow passages. While AMHS had made the decision to pull the vessel from its schedule, she said the US Coast Guard would not have given Columbia clearance to travel without its bow thruster in working order.

The service is hopeful the ferry can resume its next scheduled run by Friday, with a team of technicians already on board since it arrived in Bellingham. Landau said they should know how things stand by the middle of this week.

AMHS staff has already been contacting affected passengers and rebooking travel. It was uncertain how many prospective travelers have been affected across Southeast, but 77 passengers booked to leave Bellingham last week had to make other arrangements.

In Wrangell, besides throwing off regional travel arrangements the lack of ferry service has meant the Borough Assembly has had to cancel its meeting and workshops planned for Tuesday, due to lack of a quorum. Several members are off traveling, including Mayor David Jack in Ketchikan. Had he been able to make it back to town over the weekend as booked, the body would have had enough votes to conduct business.

Items on this week’s agenda included a work session on the budget and a draft financing plan for the Shoemaker Bay Harbor project, which will involve millions of dollars of bonding. Assembly members were also scheduled to review a letter to Alaska’s congressional delegation regarding its dissatisfaction with the Forest Service’s planned Wrangell Island timber sale.

The slated business will instead be shifted to the first week of February.

“Everything is still the same, but we’re probably going to add items,” said Kim Lane, Wrangell’s city clerk.

On February 5 a work session on improvements to the water treatment plant is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. This should include results and recommendations from a pilot plant test study and an assessment of the municipal treated water infrastructure. The session will be followed by an executive session, allowing members of the Assembly to evaluate the first six months’ performance of Wrangell’s borough manager, Lisa Von Bargen.

On February 6, a presentation on a proposed mariculture task force will be presented at City Hall at 6 p.m. The regular Assembly meeting is set to follow at 7 p.m.