No northbound ferries until Dec. 10

Monday’s state ferry to Petersburg and Juneau was the last northbound sailing scheduled for Wrangell until Dec. 10.

With the Matanuska pulled out of service for winter maintenance, the Alaska Marine Highway System will operate at a reduced schedule until the ship returns in December. That means a loss of weekly northbound and southbound stops in Wrangell.

The Kennicott is covering Southeast in place of the Matanuska, but the Kennicott also will serve Cordova and Whittier in Prince William Sound, resulting in less time — and fewer port calls — in Southeast.

Though Wrangell will be without northbound service for almost eight weeks this fall, the community will see the Kennicott southbound every other week until the Matanuska returns and weekly service in both directions resumes mid-December.

Petersburg will fare better, with the same every-other-week southbound stop as Wrangell but with two northbound sailings to Juneau in November.

Budget cuts pushed by the governor have led to pulling ships out of service to save money, while maintenance issues with the older vessels have cut deeply into the ferry schedule in recent years. Last winter, Wrangell received one northbound ferry stop in all of November and none in December.

This winter, no ferry service is scheduled into Kodiak between Jan. 3 and March 17.

When the Matanuska comes out of winter overhaul in December, the LeConte and Kennicott will go to the shipyard for their winter work in January and February, requiring schedule cuts until all of the ships are back in service.