For the second time in the past 30 days, the state has to shift around the two other ferries serving Southeast to cover for the Matanuska, which will stay in the Ketchikan shipyard longer than expected for more steel repairs.
The loss of the Matanuska means reduced service to Wrangell for the next six weeks.
The Alaska Marine Highway System has added a couple more runs of the Kennicott through Southeast, including two stops in Wrangell in January, to replace the Matanuska’s weekly service, but the schedule will be sparse — just one northbound and one southbound stop in the first half of the month (southbound Jan. 6 and northbound Jan. 10).
With the Kennicott covering the long run from Bellingham, Washington, through Southeast and out to Kodiak and Cook Inlet ports of call, Wrangell is down to a sailing in each direction every other week in December and until the fourth week of January.
The 58-year-old Matanuska went into the yard in early October for winter maintenance and was due back to work in early December. But by mid-November, the Department of Transportation learned that the corroded steel below deck was worse than expected.
Though the return-to-work delay was expected to last only a couple of weeks, additional corrosion repair has pushed the return date to Jan. 17, when the Matanuska is now scheduled to leave Ketchikan for Bellingham to resume its weekly runs through Southeast.
Barring further delays, the Department of Transportation anticipates the Matanuska will resume service shortly after the Kennicott concludes its extended service on Jan. 13 so it, too, can head into winter overhaul, spokesman Sam Dapcevich said Monday.
In addition to keeping the Kennicott on the job a couple of weeks longer than scheduled to help partially cover for the Matanuska, the ferry system has extended the LeConte’s work to Haines and Skagway through Jan. 8, also to help fill in for the missing ferry.
During its extra week of work Jan. 2-8, the LeConte also will visit Hoonah, Gustavus, Angoon and Tenakee Springs.
The LeConte will then head in for its winter overhaul.
But even with the fill-in ferry, Skagway will be without any ferry service Jan. 8-23.
Wrangell will continue to receive generally one weekly stop in each direction when the Matanuska returns to service, until the ferry system’s summer schedule kicks in with more port calls in May.
In other ferry system news, the governor last week announced that he wants to use federal infrastructure funding to pay for building a replacement vessel for the 57-year-old Tustemena, which serves Kodiak and communities from Cook Inlet to the Aleutian Islands.
It will take five years to design and build the new vessel, estimated at $200 million to $250 million, the Transportation Department commissioner said.
Replacing the Tustemena has been the top priority for the ferry system, which has several vessels in the half-century age category.
Legislative approval is required to use the federal money. The governor is expected to announce his spending plan for next year by Dec. 15, and lawmakers will reconvene in Juneau on Jan. 18 to start work on the state budget.
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