Sitka will go five weeks without a state ferry

Sitka will see minimal state ferry service this winter. Scheduled sailings of the Matanuska have been canceled until late January while the vessel undergoes more steel plate repairs in a Ketchikan shipyard, leaving Sitka cut off from the ferry network for more than a month.

As a stopgap measure, the Alaska Marine Highway System ran the Kennicott into Sitka on Dec. 8, but the vessel is not scheduled to return until Jan. 11.

The 58-year-old Matanuska is not expected to resume service until the fourth week in January,

With the ferry system stretched as it is, the Kennicott is covering a lot of co...