Worker hospitalized after being crushed by containers aboard barge at AML dock

Man pinned between two containers when forklift driver failed to see him, according to fire chief; victim conscious and talking after emergency responders arrived

The Alaska Marine Lines dock in Juneau after an accident aboard a barge resulted in a worker being hospitalized shortly after midnight on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

A man crushed between cargo containers on a cargo ship at the Alaska Marine Lines dock when a forklift driver failed to see him was hospitalized shortly after midnight on Monday, according to Capital City Fire/Rescue Chief Tom Hatley.

Emergency responders were alerted to the accident at 12:21 a.m., Hatley told the Juneau Independent. He said the victim was conscious and talking after officials arrived, but was awaiting transport to a Seattle hospital on Monday morning after initial surgery was performed at Bartlett Regional Hospital.

"It sounded like the worker was working on the deck of the barge and the forklift driver didn't see the individual," Hatley said. "And when they pushed the container up against the other container it pinned the worker in between the two."

A worker injured at the Alaska Marine Lines dock in Juneau is unloaded from an ambulance at the emergency room entrance to Bartlett Regional Hospital on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

The victim has numerous "severe crush injuries," the fire chief said. An ambulance carrying the worker reached Bartlett at about 12:45 a.m.

Inquiries about the accident to a spokesperson for Lynden Inc., AML’s parent company, by the Juneau Independent on Monday morning did not receive an immediate response.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.