KETCHIKAN — A plan to remake the Alaska Marine Highway System earned attention from Gov. Bill Walker on Thursday, the same day the system’s winter schedule was released for review.
Walker signed a memorandum of understanding with Southeast Conference laying out how the state and the nonprofit will draft a 25-year plan for a sustainable ferry system, which for years has operated on a 70 percent subsidy from the state.
Southeast Conference intends to hire a consultant to evaluate ferry system leadership, review existing studies and create a proposal to reform the system, according to its May newsletter.
The state is funding most of the process, according to Robert Venables, the transportation and energy coordinator for Southeast Conference, but the economic development group intends to raise its own funding.
Venables will be the Southeast Conference staffer organizing the project. He said a request for bids from consultants will be announced this month.
The work to “re-create” the ferry system will be managed by Southeast Conference, but led by a steering committee that includes the state, marine transportation professionals and other stakeholders.
The document signed by Walker and Southeast Conference President Garry White, head of the Sitka Economic Development Association, lays out five requirements for the review.
The new strategic plan will address the ferry system’s mission statement, governance structure, operations, revenue and partnerships.
The MOU expires at the end of 2017.
But before the group looks at an operations plan for the ferry system, it will review the ferry system governance structure.
Venables noted that one of the system’s problems is its ever-changing executives — Alaska’s governors, commissioners of the Alaska Department of Transportation and deputy commissioners of the ferry system.
“There really shouldn’t be anything political about a transportation system, and unfortunately this system gets completely wrapped around the political system,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Alaska Legislature, which provides most of the funding for the ferry system, continues to debate its fiscal year 2017 budget.
“We don’t have a budget, and we are five, six weeks away from the summer schedule starting?” Venables said. “… How can you build a business that relies on people making plans months or a year in advance?”
As the state’s fiscal crisis worsened, the membership of Southeast Conference worried about how inevitable cuts to the ferry system would affect its operations in Southeast.
Many of the concerns from Southeast Conference and Marine Highway customers have been borne out since the 2014 crash in the price of North Slope oil.
The same day the MOU was signed, the DOT made public its upcoming winter schedule that would sideline both fast ferries for months and take the Kennicott and Columbia offline from October to March.
From July to late October, the Fairweather will sail routes in northern Lynn Canal, but will go into layup on Halloween. Its sister ship, the Chenega, won’t run at all beginning in July. Its official layup status begins Sept. 1.
The winter schedule runs from October through April.
In September 2015 in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott launched the annual meeting of Southeast Conference with the observation that it was “crisis time in the ferry system,” and much of the meeting was dedicated to evaluating the system.
The final product of the process, Venables said, will be a document that offers a step-by-step plan for reform of the ferry system that includes recommendations for changes to both administration and the state law governing the system.
