The Matanuska is old, no question about it. Even after a $47 million rebuild in 2018-2019, it will continue to suffer from the ailments of age as a 58-year-old ship in salt water.
But Alaskans should question why the ship keeps coming out of service with mechanical problems. Sadly, the ferry has become as undependable as Democrats and Republicans working together.
What are the state's costs of repairs and lost revenue from the service outages? What are the costs to people and businesses of ruined travel plans? And what is the state's plan for this summer should the Matanuska continue as an unreliable member of the fleet - especially as communities pin their summer tourism hopes on more independent travelers.
The Matanuska, one of the original ships in the Alaska Marine Highway fleet, spent months in engine rehab in early 2020 soon after coming out of the shipyard from the rebuild, which included new engines. With no backup available, much of Southeast went without ferry service for close to two months.
Already this year, the vessel has been pulled out of service four times since February for an assortment of mechanical and electrical fixes.
The state Department of Transportation keeps telling Alaskans that much of the work is under warranty, implying the repairs are free. Maybe. Is everything under warranty? Has the state paid any out-of-pocket costs? Does the warranty reimburse the state for lost revenue from canceled sailings?
Putting aside the cost of the past, what about the rest of the summer? Unless the Department of Transportation is 100% supercalifragilisticexpialidocious certain that all of the problems have been fixed, and that the Matanuska will sail the rest of the year without delay or cancellation, what is the backup plan?
When asked last week, a department spokesman answered: "In light of the mechanical issues on the Matanuska, we are evaluating and considering alternatives to improve system reliability."
What alternatives? Getting the sidelined Columbia ready for service, so that the largest ship in the fleet can untie its lines, pull out of the Ketchikan shipyard and take over the next time the Matanuska comes up lame? Switch around other vessels that are in service and bring in a smaller ship?
Or are there really no viable alternatives that could go anchors aweigh and take over the next time the Matanuska drops an unscheduled anchor.
Ferry system management would be wise to start making a backup plan, rather than waiting for the next crisis of no service.
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