The Alaska Marine Highway System has too many old ships and not enough people operating the vessels. In an open house on Tuesday ferry officials launched an 20-year strategy for rebuilding the Alaskan Marine Highway.
Director of marine Craig Tornga summarized ongoing issues that the state’s ferry system faces which include issues with crew selection and retention.
“All all summer long we’ve experienced several days without sail for the fleet because of crew shortages simply because we did not have enough people to meet the requirements for manning in our inspection certificate issued by the Coast Guard,” Tornga explained. “So it continues to plague us.”
The aging of vessels is another issue to the ferry service which has five vessels more than 45 years old. in age. This summer, the ferry service announced the preliminary plan detailing capital and operational improvements to 2026. The plan calls for the construction of three vessels which include one to replace the 59 year-old Tustumena and an electric or hybrid vessel that will be used in place of the Lituya.
“These problems of reliability are a result of age and won’t be able improve until we create new vessels to replace the ones we have,” Tornga said.
Tornga claimed that the course that the 60 year-old Matanuska remains in doubt.
“Since I been on board, we’ve held a few meetings with members of the Coast Guard, and we aren’t able to decide regarding the magnitude of enhancements to preserve SOLAS until we have a better understanding of the state and security of the vessel,” Tornga said.
Consulting Kristen Kissinger, who is working with the ferry service on the long-range plan, said that the input of data and suggestions from the communities will be used to help guide the process of planning.
“Really creating a database that contains information on what types of things are available in the community, what information a community may require and what gaps exist in the database, what’s not there and what this can mean for the way they use ferry services,” she said.
She directed those attending this open house on the on-line survey that is open until Nov. 7 and advised attendees not to miss the Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board meeting and to send written feedback.
The work to create this long-range strategy will be ongoing until mid-2024. Ferry passengers are encouraged to provide ideas during the course of development.
