By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
After a summer of regular weekend ferry service, Sitka will get none in October and November, under the schedule published this month by the Alaska Marine Highway.
Through the summer, the M/V Matanuska has called at Sitka two weekends each month, offering two northbound and two southbound sailings and allowing for weekend trips to and from Juneau. Å the mainliner will be out of service in overhaul in October and November.
The Matanuska is scheduled for annual repairs and recertification in that time frame, Department of Transportation spokesman Sam Dapcevich told the Sentinel.
“Just general overhaul work that’s done annually. During that same time when the overhaul work is being done, they’re also taking care of their annual operating certificate renewals,” Dapcevich said. He noted that the M/V Hubbard - a new vessel - will remain out of service for the near future as crew quarters are installed.
Sitka isn’t the only Southeast town that will go without in October and November. Petersburg and Wrangell also will be without the Matanuska during those two months. The M/V LeConte will serve Juneau, Ketchikan, as well as other towns and small villages around Southeast in that time period.
The Matanuska will be back in Sitka December 12, arriving from Juneau and bound for Petersburg, Wrangell, and Ketchikan. There will be only one northbound trip to Juneau that month.
The LeConte will be out of service for overhaul starting in January, but Sitka will still have ferry service several times each month, according to the new schedule.
The new schedule is “dysfunctional,” Sitka Assembly member Kevin Knox told the Sentinel.
“Most of the trips get you nowhere,” Knox said. “It might serve some of the other smaller communities OK. It either gets them into Juneau or Sitka, but really in the end Sitka is ... the most left out in ferry service at this point.”
The marine highway’s priority should be regular service to and from major population centers around Southeast, he said.
“Going back to the ferry service that we had 15 years ago would be a lot more functional,” he said. “That service was much better for Southeast as a whole. Right now, you can’t call it a marine ferry service, it’s not a marine highway. I don’t know what you would call it if you were equating it to highway systems. It’s like a marine dirt road.”
While the AMHS schedule through April is finalized, the comment period closes today for the summer 2022 schedule.
Next year, AMHS plans to return the fleet’s flagship and largest vessel, the M/V Columbia, to service in mid-May after a prolonged layup. However, the summer 2022 planning document notes that the return of the Columbia is “pending crew availability.”
“We’ve had some issues with crew availability. It’s actually a nationwide and worldwide issue,” Dapcevich said. “We’ve looked at other ferry systems and other companies operating ships, and there is a definite shortage of qualified marine staff.”
The proposed summer schedule calls for the Matanuska to dock at Sitka once a week from May to September on its voyages through Southeast to and from Bellingham, Washington.
AMHS schedules and planning documents are available at ftp.dot.state.ak.us/amhs.
While the time for written comments on the 2022 summer schedule – emailed to dot.amhs.comments@alaska.gov – ends today, the public will have an additional chance to comment at a public teleconference at 10 a.m. Thursday, September 2. The phone number to access the teleconference is 1-515-604-9000, access code 279613.
