Problems with the Alaska Marine Highway System’s operations and aging fleet are so acute that marketing efforts to potential visitors outside Alaska are being intentionally scaled back, Marine Director Craig Tornga said during an online open house on April 22.
“Because of our reliability with the fleet, we have consciously pulled back our advertising in the Lower 48 because we just disappoint people right now,” he said during the hour-long event advertised as an overview of the ferry system’s pending long-range plan for the next 20 years.
“When you make your vacation plans, and this is just part of the trip and there’s something on the back end, and then we have an issue and we delay,” it’s hard on the traveling public, Tornga said. “And so we’ve pulled back until we get the fleet upgraded, and we can be reliable and something that everybody can count on for making those plans.”
He acknowledged that the ferry system is continuing to struggle with repairs, workforce shortages and other problems. Participants in the open house — including some state lawmakers and other public officials in communities along the ferry routes — confronted him with specific and recent examples of people who’ve been adversely affected.
“I was in Kodiak for about 30 hours this weekend and I got about six phone calls because people were trying to make reservations and — guess what — the reservation lines are out of order,” said Kodiak Rep. Louise Stutes. “When are we going to do something so the average Joe can call up and make a reservation?”
Tornga said officials are aware of issues and “we definitely have to make improvements.”
“I just want to speak for the folks who live here in Southeast Alaska who are trying to get to medical (appointments) and that kind of thing,” said Sitka Rep. Rebecca Himschoot.
Maintenance on the current fleet is behind schedule on multiple vessels, Tornga said, while providing an update on their status.
“It’s been a long winter for us in the shipyards — too much time in the yard — but that’s what you get with an old fleet,” he said.
Repairs to the Columbia have been ongoing since the beginning of the year and are expected to continue at least through July, Tornga said.
“Again, it’s associated with wasted steel,” he said, referring to a problem on other decades-old vessels. “Especially their fire main and a lot of piping — a few hundred feet of it — with a lot of interferences going through bulkheads that we have to replace. But it’s 50-year-old pipe and it’s exposed to saltwater all the time.”
The Kennicott is filling in on the route between Alaska and Bellingham, Washington, although that vessel is scheduled for major maintenance involving the replacement of both generators next January in Puget Sound, Tornga said.
“That will be a fairly long project, nine to 10 months,” he said.
Work on the LeConte is a couple of months behind schedule and ferry officials are working with the U.S. Coast Guard to complete only the repairs necessary to fulfill safety requirements and get the ship back to work in Southeast, Tornga said.
“We’ll have to come back in the fall and complete the car deck repairs,” he said.
Tornga said similar work is being done on the Tustumena in the hope it can resume service along the Southcentral and Southwest coasts beginning May 9.
“We’re not getting all of it completed at the shipyard, but we’re getting everything that’s required by the Coast Guard for the safety of the vessel,” he said. “Some of this they’ve allowed us to push off until next year, thankfully.”
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