The Hubbard pulled away from the dock at the Ketchikan Shipyard on May 18, headed for its first passenger sailing — more than four years after it was built at a cost of about $60 million.
Carrying a crew of 24 — with newly installed sleeping quarters for crew — the Hubbard headed to Juneau, where it was scheduled to start work Tuesday, running six days a week between the Capital City and the Lynn Canal communities of Haines and Skagway.
The Hubbard is not scheduled to visit Wrangell this summer. With the Matanuska out of service for repairs to “wasted” steel, only the Columbia is working the Southeast run through Wrangell this summer, making a weekly stop in each direction.
The state had planned to also put the Kennicott to work this summer, adding to Southeast service, including Wrangell, but an inability to hire enough crew forced the Alaska Marine Highway System to cross the Kennicott off the schedule.
The Alaska Department of Transportation, which oversees the marine highway system, has reported it would accelerate its recruitment efforts this year to ensure adequate staffing for the ships. State officials, however, have not responded to Sentinel requests over the past month for a count of how many new crew members have been added since the department changed its hiring process in February.
The Hubbard and its sister ship the Tazlina, the Alaska Marine Highway System’s newest ferries, were built in Ketchikan. But they lacked crew quarters, which limited the vessels to runs of no more than 12 hours to stay within U.S. Coast Guard rules for crew rest. The ships also lacked side-loading doors for vehicles, as the state had opted during the design process for loading doors in the bow and stern.
After spending $4.4 million in 2021 to add side-loading doors so that the two ships could more easily operate at their ports of call, the Alaska Marine Highway System next decided to spend about $15 million to install crew quarters aboard the Hubbard. The addition will allow the ferry to operate between Juneau, Haines and Skagway and back again, a route that exceeds 12 hours.
With the work completed, the 280-foot-long ferry is entering service for the first time since it was launched in 2018.
The $15 million contract also included installation of a galley and mess area, along with other improvements.
The state plans to send the Tazlina down to Ketchikan to get its own set of crew quarters once the Hubbard arrives in Juneau, the ferry system’s marine director, Craig Tornga, told the marine highway public advisory board in April.
The Tazlina, which also cost about $60 million to build, has been used sparingly since it was launched. In addition to the loading door and crew quarters issues, the ferry has been tied to the dock due to tight budgets and service cutbacks during the travel slowdown in the worst of the pandemic.
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