The 58-year-old state ferry Matanuska will spend an additional two weeks in a Ketchikan shipyard so that workers can repair and replace corroded steel discovered below deck.
The Kennicott will help cover Southeast during the vessel’s absence.
The Matanuska is expected to resume its scheduled service on Dec. 20, running from Ketchikan to Bellingham, Washington, to pick up its generally weekly runs from Puget Sound through Southeast Alaska, said Sam Dapcevich, spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation.
“During routine shipyard inspections, some wasted steel was discovered on the Matanuska,” he said last week. “A steel repair plan is in place and is approved by the U.S. Coast Guard, but it will add approximately two weeks to the ship’s overhaul schedule.”
The ship pulled into the Vigor shipyard in early October and had been expected back in service by early December.
While the Matanuska’s return from its annual inspection and overhaul is delayed, the Kennicott and LeConte will pick up some of the missed port calls.
The ferry system’s revised schedule now shows the Kennicott will stop in Wrangell southbound on Nov. 24, Dec. 9 and Dec. 23, with northbound stops Nov. 29 and Dec. 13.
The Matanuska is scheduled to resume service to Wrangell with a northbound sailing from Bellingham and Ketchikan on Dec. 24.
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