The new Alaska ferry, Hubbard, carried its first passengers on Tuesday. The boat, which was built in the Ketchikan shipyard, is the latest addition to the Marine Highway fleet. It now links Juneau, Haines and Skagway everyday but Mondays. We got a tour of the new boat on its first stop in Haines.

Getting the MV Hubbard online has matched the slow pace of its namesake glacier. Construction started in 2014 and it took four years to complete.  Then, due to some quirks of management and planning, the marine highway system decided to change course and  upgrade the boat with crew quarters to allow it to run continuously.

Baylous: “This is all steel deck here, all the unlicenced crew lives on this deck”

Captain Gabe Baylous points to 40 feet of living quarters that have been added to the upper deck. In addition, a crew lunch room has been converted to sleeping quarters. 

The ship’s passenger capacity didn’t change – it was built to hold 300.

Baylous: “We can go take a look at the galley. We are trying to make it work, it’s a different configuration and it’s kind of condensed in size.”

The galley is tight, but the new stainless steel shines and Baylous is confident that once a permanent cook gets assigned to the boat, some warm meals can be provided to passengers.

Baylous: “I don’t anticipate this vessel ever being able to serve hot meals to 300 people. Perhaps on the lighter loads, we will be able to serve hot meals.” 

Baylous says with a full load of passengers, the new galley will turn out soups, salads and sandwiches that will be sold at the cafeteria. 

Adding crew quarters cost $15 million and delayed the boat’s maiden voyage until this week. 

On Tuesday morning the Hubbard sailed up the Lynn Canal with about 70 passengers on board. But its long awaited docking in Haines was further delayed. The ferry Columbia was carrying an unusual load of heavy equipment, and was late leaving the Haines ferry terminal. The Hubbard‘s crew had no choice but to circle around Lutak inlet for an hour and a half until the Columbia left. Finally, about nine years and ninety minutes after construction began, the MV Hubbard let out its first load of passengers. 

Haines resident Tom Faverty was one of them.

Faverty: “Except for the delay at the end it was a beautiful voyage. The boat was very clean, and very well organized,and it’s nice to have another ship in the upper Lynn Canal, we need it.”

The Hubbard can hold more than 50 cars. Its top speed is about the same as an electric scooter.

It’s 50 feet longer than the ferry Leconte. The Marine system has said that bringing the Hubbard on line in the Lynn Canal will free the LeConte to increase ferry service in other Southeast communities. 

AMHS has had difficulties recently hiring and retaining staff. Captain Baylous says a ship like the Hubbard is well positioned to address the problem. 

Baylous: “We are going to have a smaller crew size, which I personally like, it makes it feel more efficient operation and also a closer knit crew.”

Baylous says having a new ship will improve morale. He says although he loves the 60 year-old Malaspina, a recently retired ship in the fleet, he could see that working on a slowly decaying vessel had an impact on the crew’s energy. He points to an area on the Hubbard’s deck where crew will be able to have barbecues when in the shipyard. 

Baylous: “It’s a great opportunity. If you focus on the good of these ships, they are great ships. And the things that are bad, or a little off, I know are going to improve in time. So it’s more of a living thing and a growing thing.”

The car deck of the Hubbard is spacious, wide open. This allows the crew to quickly load and unload in port. Baylous has to cut our tour short when his radio announces the ship is ready to leave for Skagway. The turnaround time in Haines was only twenty minutes. Baylous says he expects by tonight they will have made up much of the delay the boat has just incurred.