Wrangell will go without any southbound ferry service in alternating weeks from Oct. 1 to mid-November under the Alaska Marine Highway System’s draft fall/winter schedule.
The town is on the schedule for its usual weekly northbound stop during that period.
The rest of the winter schedule shows once-a-week service to town in each direction, with the bonus of two stops in each direction the second week of each month from mid-November through February when the Kennicott will shorten its Southeast route and not go to Bellingham, Washington.
The ferry stops in Wrangell will be northbound on Fridays and southbound on Mondays, except for the several weeks the Kennicott adds a midweek stop in each direction.
During that second week of each month from mid-November through February, the Kennicott will use the time it saves by canceling out Bellingham to add a stop in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a popular connection point to the North American highway system that costs significantly less than a ferry ticket to Bellingham.
The Columbia will cover the Southeast mainline route for the first month and a half of the fall schedule, leaving service in mid-November for annual maintenance and overhaul, which is scheduled to last through February.
When the Columbia heads to the shipyard, the Kennicott, which has been tied up all summer for lack of crew, will take its place on the Southeast mainline through early March.
Though overall service to Southeast is close to past winters, the draft schedule provides no ferry service to Cordova or Valdez from mid-October to mid-December, when the Aurora will be out of service for its annual overhaul.
In addition to pulling vessels out of service for annual maintenance work, the Matanuska remains unavailable due to “wasted steel” that needs replacement, and the Tazlina will go into the shipyard for installation of crew quarters to enable use of the ferry on longer voyages that require a change of crew.
The Tazlina, which was launched five years ago, has never been put into regular service due to lack of crew, limited funding and its inability to serve the full-day Lynn Canal route out of Juneau.
Though Alaska Department of Transportation officials said in March they were looking to spend $8 million to replace corroded steel that has kept the Matanuska out of service since last November, no decision has been made to spend money on the 60-year-old ship, which remains tied up in Ketchikan.
The state released the draft schedule on Thursday, June 29. It covers Oct. 1 through April 30, 2024. Public comments are due by July 12. Comments may be faxed to 907-228-6873 or emailed to dot.amhs.comments@alaska.gov.
A public Zoom session is scheduled for Southeast Alaska residents to share their opinions with ferry system management. The meeting is set for 10 a.m. July 13. People also can visit the ferry system website and click on Submit a Comment. The comment link, Zoom sign-on and detailed schedule information are available at the website: winter_considerations_2023.pdf (alaska.gov)
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