One weekly sailing each direction under summer ferry schedule

Wrangell would see one northbound and one southbound state ferry each week this summer, under the proposed schedule released Monday.

That's one-third the level of service from 2017 to 2019, before the pandemic significantly cut into ferry runs last year.

Under the draft schedule for May 1 through Sept. 30, the Matanuska would stop in Wrangell northbound on Sunday mornings and southbound on Friday afternoons on its weekly run to Southeast Alaska from Bellingham, Washington.

The Alaska Marine Highway System budget is down about 25% from two years ago. The largest ship in the fleet, the Columbia,...