Kennicott’s return delayed two weeks, leaving some Southeast communities without ferry service
- Wrangell Sentinel
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
Ship now expected to resume sailings on Dec. 17; possibility of extending Columbia on route under review
By Larry Persily
Wrangell Sentinel
Wrangell is scheduled to go without state ferry service between Nov. 26, when the Columbia stopped in town before heading into winter overhaul, and Dec. 21, when the delayed Kennicott returns to take up the route.
The Kennicott had been scheduled to start work the first week of December, but the state reported last week that the ship will be delayed at least two more weeks coming out of the Puget Sound shipyard where it has been most of the year for a new generator and other repairs.
The delay will affect other Southeast communities as well. Petersburg, for instance, is now not scheduled to see a ferry until Dec. 22 — when the Kennicott arrives a day after its stop in Wrangell.
The Alaska Marine Highway System considered keeping the Columbia on the job longer, so as to avoid the loss of mainline ferry service through Southeast for almost a month, but that possibility was on hold as of Monday.
“The request to extend the Columbia … is still under review, pending some inspections scheduled for Dec. 1,” Danielle Tessen, communications manager for the Alaska Department of Transportation, said Nov. 28. “We expect to have a final determination in the days following the inspection.”
The ferry system pulls all of its ships out of service each year, generally one at a time, for maintenance and any needed repairs, requiring tight scheduling with the privately operated shipyard in Ketchikan that handles most of the work.
The Kennicott is scheduled to leave the Puget Sound yard for Ketchikan to pick up passengers and vehicles on Dec. 17 for the southbound voyage to Bellingham, Washington. It would then start the weekly run between Bellingham and Southeast Alaska ports from Ketchikan to Skagway.
“We remain optimistic that the Kennicott will return to service on Dec. 17,” Tessen said in an email Nov. 28.
The ferry is scheduled for its first stop in Wrangell northbound on Sunday, Dec. 21, resuming weekly runs with northbound stops in Wrangell on Sundays and southbound stops on Wednesdays.
The Kennicott, which was built in 1998, has been out of service all year for installation of new generators to meet emissions standards and other overhaul and maintenance work.
When workers ran some tests on Nov. 20, they discovered an electrical problem between the power system and switchboard, according to the state. “During testing, the control panel kept incorrectly opening the circuit breakers.”
Finding and fixing the problem extended the ferry’s stay at the shipyard.
• This story was originally published by the Wrangell Sentinel.
