Ferry workers' strike brings travel disruptions

With approximately 400 members of the Inlandboatmen's Union going on strike last Wednesday, July 24, the Alaska Marine Highway System came to a halt. Without ferry services, many people across the state, especially in Southeast Alaska, found themselves stranded. In the communities of Wrangell and Petersburg, many people are facing disruptions to their schedules, families, and work.

WRANGELL:

Several of Wrangell's children and adults attending a church camp in Juneau were stranded when the ferry workers' strike kicked off. Kem Haggard, with Harbor Light Assembly of God, said that he heard about the potential for a strike on Tuesday afternoon, July 23. A group of 45 Wrangell children and their chaperones were due to arrive in Wrangell Thursday night, July 25, according to Matt Gerald with Harbor Light, but with the ferries shut down the group was stranded. Scott Habberstad, with Alaska Airlines, said that Flight 77 was rerouted to help the church group make it back home. Flight 77 normally travels the air route between Juneau and Anchorage, he said, but they made a detour to Wrangell to help the stranded passengers. After which, it continued back to its normal destination.

"To my knowledge it will be the first and only nonstop flight to Anchorage from Wrangell," Habberstad said.

The flight landed around 8:20 p.m. Thursday night, July 25. Habberstad said that Station Manager Tim Cook and the Alaska Airlines employees at the Wrangell airport deserved special thanks for their hard work and for staying open late to take in the rerouted flight. Laurie Brown, one of the chaperones with the church group, added that Habberstad deserved thanks, as well.

"At camp we learned that life with God is an adventure," she wrote in a Facebook message. "We had a chance to live that out! We give all the credit to God for working through the amazing Alaska Airlines staff here in Wrangell for staying late and the pilots for making an unexpected stop for us on Flight 77!"

Another group affected by the ferry strike is the Warfel Miller Family. Frank and Pat Warfel, parents of local teacher Jenn Miller, were on a road trip when the strike began. Miller said that they were in Prince Rupert and were preparing to ferry home when their travel plans were disrupted. Miller said that they backtracked to Bellingham, to meet Miller and her daughter, Calleigh, to figure out the new plan. This new plan, she said, is to drive the truck down to Seattle and get it on a barge to Wrangell, then to buy plane tickets home. Things have been inconvenient and expensive figuring out how to get them and their truck home, she said, but the family has taken things in stride. She also added that they are not the only ones facing complicated travel plans because of the strike.

"They handled it all so well," she wrote in a Facebook message. "They are more concerned about the families that are stranded in Alaska and what an awful experience visiting our beautiful state has become for those people."

Fisherman Mike Lockabey pointed out that it was not just travelers who are being affected by the strike. The strike was hurting the entire state's financial situation, he said, with the ferry system having to make so many refunds to people. Locally, however, fishermen are also facing a hit to their profits. The local seafood processors will have to find alternative ways to transport the fishermens' catches, such as on barges or by plane. This increased cost will dig into the fishermens' income, Lockabey said, at a time when a lot of them are already struggling to make a profit.

"What's going to happen to my crab the rest of the season when those vans don't get on the ferry?" He asked. "They're not going to be here to take the vans, either, and Sea Level's got five of them in the lot right now."

PETERSBURG:

Since the start of the IBU strike last week, agents at Viking Travel have been busy rerouting their customers who were traveling with the AMHS and helping them make alternate plans, said Dave Berg, co-founder of Viking Travel. In addition to the inconvenience of having to change plans midway through a trip, passengers have had to make costly accommodations that they weren't expecting to pay. According to Berg, one Petersburg family took a ferry up to Haines for the Southeast Alaska State Fair. They put their truck and a trailer onboard with them, but before they could return, the IBU workers strike began. Berg said the family had to pay an additional $3,000 to make arrangements that included hotel rooms, airfare and the cost of shipping their truck and trailer back to Petersburg by barge.

"This is affecting a lot of residents and visitors that are basically having to make other arrangements at their expense," said Berg.

About 50 percent of Viking Travel's customers find themselves on a ferry at one point of their journey, said Berg. Due to the uncertainty of when the strike will end, tourists are cancelling their tours in Southeast Alaska, while others are flying to their destinations. Most customers were caught off guard by the strike and looked to Viking Travel, for answers. Unfortunately, Berg and his travel agents can only do so much. Some customers have been calling to complain, and staff has had to hold the phone away from their ears to let them blow off some steam.

"People are irate," said Berg. "A lot of them don't understand, and they want to get mad at somebody."

Ernie Vanderwalt and his wife were in Petersburg last week after visiting the state from North Carolina. He was on the second half of his trip when he got to Petersburg from Juneau via the ferry system. He said it was an amazing trip up until he left Petersburg onboard the M/V Columbia last Wednesday, July 24, for Washington. What was supposed to be a three-hour stop in Ketchikan turned into a more permanent stay.

When the ferry docked in Ketchikan, Vanderwalt said that the IBU workers walked off the vessel. The captain called a meeting with all the passengers and filled them in on the situation. The IBU workers were going on strike and the M/V Columbia would not be continuing its voyage. The passengers were allowed to stay onboard overnight, but they had to depart from the ship the following day.

Vanderwalt stepped off the ship, spotted the purser and let him know in no uncertain terms how he felt about the situation.

"You take charge as a professional seaman of a certain number of passengers," said Vanderwalt to the purser. "You start off a voyage and halfway through you don't complete that and start to seek your own interests? It is the opposite of noble."

Vanderwalt said the purser seemed to be unconcerned with what he had to say.

He was able to book a plane and leave Ketchikan, but Vanderwalt was concerned about those who were in more remote areas of Alaska or were traveling with a car. One of his friends was traveling with an RV and had to pay $2,000 to have it shipped to Seattle.

"They were inconsiderate towards passengers across Alaska to say the least," said Vanderwalt of the IBU workers. "They wanted to use all of the passengers as leverage. They turned the passengers into pawns for their game. I abhor that in the strongest possible way. I think it's unprofessional conduct and unseaman like. You don't do that."