State ferry system open for summer reservations

The Alaska Marine Highway System is now accepting summer travel bookings.

The summer season for the state ferries runs from May 1 to Sept. 30.

The schedule, which was released on Dec. 23 and opened that same day for online reservations, shows the same level of service to Wrangell as in recent years: A northbound stop in the afternoon or early evening every Sunday and a southbound morning stop every Wednesday.

Wrangell will be served on the weekly run by the Columbia between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska.

Fares are the same as this winter’s rates, according to the Alaska Marine Highway System reservations website last week. For example, $975 for a passenger vehicle from Bellingham to Wrangell, with an additional $389 for the driver. A walk-on ferry ticket between Wrangell and Petersburg is $45.

Larger vehicles, such as trucks and RVs, are charged higher rates. Staterooms are additional.

The Columbia, which had been out of service for a year, took over the mainline route in December when the Kennicott headed to a Puget Sound shipyard for a yearlong project to replace its generators.