Delays in a marine highway vessel’s return to service could cause Southeast Alaska communities to go without ferries for several weeks after New Year’s Eve. The Matanuska was supposed to return to service in late December but state officials say now they’re not sure when it’ll be ready.
The Matanuska was originally set to begin sailing later this month after coming out of its regularly scheduled overhaul. Now travelers are being told by local ferry booking offices that their sailings have been canceled. And the AMHS ticketing website shows no sailings to the upper Lynn Canal for all of January and most of February while its other main vessel, the LeConte is being overhauled.
Alaska Marine Highway System spokesperson Sam Dapcevich told KHNS in an email that additional steelwork has to be done on the Matanuska before it can go back into service. But he didn’t say when that would be done.
Meanwhile, ticket agents have been phoning passengers to reschedule their trips. Liz Lavoie had a reservation for a new vehicle to be shipped to Skagway from Bellingham on December 22. But on Friday morning she got a call from a reservation agent.
“She said, well, I’m sorry to, you know, give you bad news, but the Matanuska has been held longer in the shipyard. And so the 22nd sailing that you had a reservation on is now canceled. But we’re just going to move you to the January 8th, which is the next available sailing. And it only goes as far as Haines but you will get a $14 refund,” said Lavoie.
Meanwhile, in Haines, Matt Jillson says that he’d booked a holiday trip down south. He was planning to take the ferry from Haines to Auke Bay and fly out of Juneau the same day. But about three weeks ago, he got a call from the Haines Ferry Terminal saying his trip had to be rescheduled.
“Since we’re bringing our dogs down to board in Juneau Seaplanes wasn’t a very good option. So we decided to take the LaConte meaning that we’re going to have to travel down two days before our flight, pay for two nights in a hotel, and all the meals and extra stuff that you get when you have to spend time in Juneau, said Jillson.
Jillson appears lucky that he’s able to travel at all this winter. Other upper Lynn Canal residents like Skagway’s Melinda Munson found out on Thursday that trips on the Matanuska had been canceled for January. That’s when she was planning to ferry to Juneau for dentist and doctor’s visits for her children. But with no ferry, she’ll have to cancel those appointments.
“I’ve got one kid who can’t go on a small plane because he’s got autism, and he rocks back and forth. So it’s a safety issue for him and for everybody on the plane. And we were going to do some doctor’s appointments. And so that’s not going to happen either,” said Munson.
As of Friday afternoon, there was still no official word from the state Department of Transportation regarding the cancelations. Questions posed to Governor Dunleavy’s office asking why there is no backup in place for the upper Lynn Canal were left unanswered Friday afternoon.
Skagway Mayor Andrew Cremata says he’s been in contact with his counterpart in Haines to see if the boroughs could work together to charter private vessels especially for traveling high school athletic teams. But he says upper Lynn Canal communities have been burned before. Last year, Skagway chartered a private catamaran with the understanding that the state would help pay, but they’ve yet to receive anything.
“So you know, we’re in a situation where we’re literally left holding the bill for something we were promised we would get reimbursed for from the state,” said Cremata.
Meanwhile, the Tazlina, one of the Alaska Marine Highway’s newest vessels built for servicing the upper Lynn Canal remains tied up in Juneau. CoastAlaska reported earlier this week that the Alaska Marine Highway says it will not activate the $60 million ferry for a short-term fill-in.
So for now, confusion is the only answer being offered by the Alaska Marine Highway System, giving upper Lynn Canal residents more anxiety over holiday travel plans.
