The Columbia state ferry has cancelled its sailings for at least a week due to a mechanical issue, affecting stops at ports between Haines and Bellingham, Washington, according to a service notice by the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS).
The primary interruption to service is a seven-day period starting Wednesday, with a sailing from Ketchikan to Bellingham and back through Southeast Alaska cancelled, the AMHS notice issued Monday notes. The decision is due to a “mechanical issue with the vessel bow thruster.”
“The vessel will remain in (Ketchikan) during this cancellation to undergo repairs,” the announcement notes. The “anticipated return to service” date is June 28.
AMHS on Tuesday also announced the Columbia would bypass all southbound stops as it departed Haines for Ketchikan, resulting in the cancellation of stops in Juneau and other ports. The ship typically completes a full round trip of the ports each week.
The number of people affected by the cancellations was still being determined Wednesday, said Sam Dapcevich, a spokesperson for the ferry system.
“Each person is contacted and they’re offered a chance to rebook or get a refund,” he said.
But complicating the rescheduling process is the ferry making the trips between Bellingham and Alaska tends to be largely full during the summer, especially the vehicle space, Dapcevich said. So while AMHS can contract with private vessel operators for passengers trying to get between various Southeast Alaska ports, that isn’t practical for people with vehicles.
If the Columbia repairs take longer than expected the Kennicott is available for the Bellingham-Alaska route, but it is not possible to get that vessel operational during the coming week, Dapcevich said. He said providing a crew for the vessel would also be a challenge and likely requiring reassigning staff from other vessels throughout the ferry system.
The nearly 50-year-old Columbia was pressed back into service this year, more than three years after being taken out of service for cost-saving reasons, due a more-extensive-than-expected overhaul of the Matanuska ferry that was servicing the Bellingham-Alaska route. The ferry system has gone through numerous struggles and been subject to extensive criticism in recent years due to budget cuts, vessel malfunctions, schedule reductions and a crisis-level shortage of employees.
Voicing complaints about the Columbia’s cancellations on Tuesday was Regina Discenza, a New Jersey resident who said in an interview her trip to Alaska has involved a series of mishaps involving the ferry system. She said she was hoping to sail the entire AMHS route from Bellingham to the Aleutians, bringing her car with her, but found out cross-gulf sailings between Southeast Alaska and Southcentral Alaska weren’t available.
“They had suggested I drive the 1,400 miles from Haines to Anchorage,” she said. “I’m 62 years old and I’m not making that drive by myself.”
Instead Discenza spent a couple of weeks each in Sitka, Skagway and Haines before arriving in Juneau last Tuesday.
“Wednesday morning I was in the governor’s office,” she said, adding she went to the Alaska State Capitol because “I wanted them to know how it impacted me.”
Discenza’s attempts to get in touch with state transportation leaders were unsuccessful and on Monday she learned her trip south aboard the Columbia was being cancelled.
“I had to make my own plans because they said the July 4 booking (southward) was completely booked,” she said, adding as of now she is planning to take the ferry from Ketchikan to Bellingham on July 12.
The federal government earlier this year announced a $285 million allocation from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to modernize and replace AMHS vessels and infrastructure during the next five years. But Gov. Mike Dunleavy this week vetoed half of $20 million in state “backstop” funds to cover improvement costs if federal funds for such projects were not yet available.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 9567-2306.
