Alaska Ferries - general thread

An article in the Juneau Empire about the Southeast Alaska Transportation Plan and what it might mean for the ferries.

Link: juneauempire.com/local/2011-09-27/area-transit-plan-focuses-ferries

To put it mildly, I highly doubt that Bellingham will be dropped from the schedule. These plans are suppose to consider "all" possibilities, even the unlikely ones. This way they can at least say that it was considered.

I posted some info a few posts up about the proposals the transportation plan has.

[EGfleet]

Marine highway plans to replace fast ferry engines
Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska News

Source: KFSK

JUNEAU, ALASKA (2011-12-20) Alaska’s Marine Highway System is asking the
Legislature to budget $22 million for new fast ferry engines. But it may
not use the money if a lawsuit against the shipbuilder succeeds.

Engines on the Fairweather and Chenega have shown signs of excessive wear that could stop them from sailing within a few years. State
officials tried to negotiate a solution, and then filed suit.

They also asked the court for a preliminary injunction forcing the
builders to provide replacements soon. That’s because the engines could
wear out before the issue goes before a jury.

Ferry chief Mike Neussl says experts check the engines on a regular basis.

“The Fairweather just underwent an inspection and was granted authority
for another year. So we are good through the summer of 2012 operating
season on Fairweather’s engines,” Neussl says.

The Chenega will be inspected in January and its engine cylinders could
be bored out to remove damage. But little more can be done for the
Fairweather’s power system.

The $22 million would replace one ship’s engines. It is part of the
Governor Sean Parnell’s capital budget request for the fiscal year
starting in July.

Neussl says it would not be a direct appropriation of state money.

“Those are federal receipts. That’s really seeking authority from the
Legislature to be able to use federal funds to replace fast ferry
engines, should that become necessary,” he says.

He says replacement engines would likely come from the company that
built the current set. That’s because few choices are available.

“They have safely powered the ship, moved a lot of people and moved a
lot of vehicles. It’s just a longevity issue and the ability for them to
last as long as the ships last. That’s really the heart of the issue
here,” he says.

It’s not known when the judge will rule on the preliminary injunction
against shipbuilder, Derecktor Shipyards, and the subcontractors that
built the engines

The fast ferries each carry up to 250 passengers and 36 vehicles. The
Fairweather was built in 2004 and the Chenega in 2005.

kfsk.org/modules/local_news/index.php?op=centerBlock&syndicated=true&ID=2102

So this is not exactly ferry related but it could have an impact on some ferry operations for Haines.

Apparently some two acres of hillside have begun to move downhill along Lutak Road which is the highway connecting Haines with the ferry terminal as well as some neighborhoods. In a worst case scenario of the hillside sliding away this would cut off the ferry terminal from town as well as severing various utility lines. Of course more importantly it would cut off some homes from the town as well.

News article from the Juneau Empire: juneauempire.com/state/2012-01-22/more-two-acres-hillside-slides-haines#.Tx5PVm87WAg

From the Chilkat Valley News in Haines: www.chilkatvalleynews.com/story.asp?Story=2044&Ground-shift-threatens-roads,-homes

[Flugel Horn]

A new Ketchikan airport ferry, as of April 2011:

Here's the writeup from the webpage from the Vancouver area naval-architect:

At a ceremony on April 2nd, 2011, Alaska Ship & Drydock, Inc delivered a new double]ended ro]ro passenger ferry to the State of Alaska. The new vessel, christened the M/V Ken Eichner]2, was designed and engineered by Capilano Maritime Design Ltd. of North Vancouver.

The vessel will serve as a link between the Greater Ketchikan International Airport and the City of Ketchikan alongside the M/V Oral Freeman. The ferry accommodates 149 persons, and either 23 cars, or two large semi]trailers and eight cars.

The M/V Ken Eichner]2 provides a significant increase in deadweight capacity over her sister, in addition to a 5% displacement allowance for future growth in lightship. The off]centreline starboard side deckhouse allows for easier loading and unloading of large trucks and is countered by 15 long tons of fresh water ballast.

The vessel incorporates a number of special features in order to meet the Ownerfs manning requirement of just two crew members.

The ferry was designed and built under USCG (Subchapter T]Small Passenger Vessels) and ABS (AMS, A1 +, Under 90 m Rules, Ro]Ro Passenger Vehicle.


The principal particulars of the new vessel are as follows:

Length Overall: 116 ft ]6 in
Beam (Breadth): 48 ft ]0 in
Depth (Moulded): 12 ft ]0 in
Design Draft: 9 ft ]0 in
Design Displacement 422.7 long tons
Lightship Weight: 272.1 long tons
Fuel: 8,600 US Gallons
Propulsion: Conventional, one propeller turning at each end.
Main Engines: Two 850 HP Cummins KTA 38 MO Tier engines
Generators: Two 55 kW Northern Lights M55 C2 Tier II
Design Speed: 10 knots
Service Speed: 8 knots

See the naval architect's webpage, for a photo of the ship (one of the 4 or 5 photos that they rotate on their homepage.
www.capilanomaritime.com/

[EGfleet]

Shipbuilder Vigor Industrial to expand operations with acquisition of Alaska shipyard
By Winonna Saari

Herald Writer

Vigor Industrial, a Northwest shipbuilding operation that operates Vigor Marine in Everett, is purchasing an Alaska-based shipbuilding company, Alaska Ship and Drydock in Ketchikan.

The acquisition is expected to strengthen Vigor's presence on the West Coast.

"Everett has a great tradition as a maritime community. Everything we can do at Vigor to help build a strong maritime industry will help sustain and ultimately build jobs in Everett and everywhere we work, including soon in Alaska," said Steve Hirsh, Vigor industrial director of communications.

Hirsh said Vigor is expecting to hire close to 100 skilled welders statewide in the next few weeks, to build the next new ferry for Washington State Ferries. Those jobs will initially be in Seattle, but as construction progresses, there will also be ferry-building jobs in Everett, Hirsh said.

Qualified applicants can check its website at vigorindustrial.com/jobs.

Both companies hope to complete the acquisition agreement by March 1.

www.heraldnet.com/article/20120208/BIZ/702089869/1050/COMM0611

An article from the Juneau Empire regarding the costs of the Alaska Class ferry as well as the pending sale of ASD to Vigor that EGfleet mentioned above.

Link: juneauempire.com/state/2012-02-08/costs-expected-rise-new-state-ferry

Some highlights from the article:

Regarding the Alaska Class:

“That $120 million is based on an estimate that’s a couple of years old,” said Mike Neussl, deputy commissioner for marine operations for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

Costs are likely rising, and changes that have been made to the project after design work on the new vessel began are likely to result in a higher cost that previously thought, Neussl said. He did not provide a new cost estimate.

Regarding the sale of ASD to Vigor:

The state has been trying to build a shipbuilding industry in Ketchikan, and has been steering AMHS work to the shipyard there. The shipyard itself is owned by the state’s Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, and operated by Alaska Ship & Drydock.

The state-owned shipyard is not being sold, only the company that operates it.

Alaska Ship & Drydock was selected to construct the new ferry after Department of Transportation Commissioner Marc Luiken issued a finding that it was in the state’s interest to build the ferry in Alaska.

Neussl said he didn’t know yet what the impact of the sale would have on Alaska, and that he’d only heard of the deal a few hours earlier.

[Flugel Horn]

News story on Alaska new policy to not stop at ports when there is no reserved-traffic to pick-up.

Ferries will bypass empty ports

Associated Press
Published: May 29th, 2012 09:06 PM
Last Modified: May 29th, 2012 09:06 PM


JUNEAU -- Starting Friday, Alaska state ferries will bypass a port call if there's no scheduled traffic either into or out of that port. "Scheduled traffic" is a reservation made at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure from a given port.

A spokesman for the state transportation department, Jeremy Woodrow, says this is a move toward improved efficiency within the ferry system.

Woodrow could not say what kind of savings the system might realize with the change. But the department in a news release says the Aurora saved more than 2,200 gallons of fuel by canceling a recent round-trip sailing between Valdez and Whittier that had no scheduled traffic between ports.

The department also calls port calls without traffic relatively uncommon, with just 10 such stops last year.

from here:
www.adn.com/2012/05/29/2484346/ferries-will-bypass-empty-ports.html

--------------------------

Hypothetical musing about BCFerries on this issue:

The only BCFerries route I could see this working on is Route-40 Discovery Coast, if at all. Ocean Falls would be the likely candidate for the Monday 1:00am call.

[Neil]

May 30, 2012 20:08:21 GMT -8 P_Keenleyside said:

May 30, 2012 17:33:15 GMT -8 Flugel Horn said:

News story on Alaska new policy to not stop at ports when there is no reserved-traffic to pick-up.


from here:
www.adn.com/2012/05/29/2484346/ferries-will-bypass-empty-ports.html

--------------------------

Hypothetical musing about BCFerries on this issue:

The only BCFerries route I could see this working on is Route-40 Discovery Coast, if at all. Ocean Falls would be the likely candidate for the Monday 1:00am call.

Can see the line of thinking, but consider:

Both Valdez and Whittier have road connections.

Ocean Falls does not.

Ocean Falls has less than eighty year round residents. If you look at the traffic figures, it is clear that some scheduled stops have no customers. Therefore, Mr Horn's suggestion is valid.

[Wett Coast]

This move by AMHS simply means that people have to plan ahead and make a reservation. I don't think that is too much to ask. The same applies in Ocean Falls and other places along BC's coast. Cutting expenses just a little bit in this manner is not unreasonable.

[Name_Omitted]

A almost throw-away paragraph in the Alaska Dispatch could tell of a potentially important change in AMHS funding into the future, providing more stability for the system.

The Alaska Marine Highway will receive an increase in funding because of greater importance to be placed on route miles. Rep. Young was also able to secure guaranteed funding for Alaska’s ferries by ensuring that ferry funding come from the Highway Trust Fund instead of being subject to the annual congressional appropriations process as the Senate-passed bill indicated.

www.alaskadispatch.com/article/don-young-credited-saving-alaska-railroad-drastic-cuts

[EGfleet]

AMHS has come up with their own Vessel Watch map:

www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/map.shtml

[Dane]

There is a new fiftieth anniversary logo for Alaska's Marine Highway. Apologies I cannot post it, I am mobile.

[Flugel Horn]

Sept 3, 2012 9:33:10 GMT -8 Dane said:

There is a new fiftieth anniversary logo for Alaska's Marine Highway. Apologies I cannot post it, I am mobile.

Here's the one for the half-fifty:

Aug 6, 2010 19:20:39 GMT -8 Flugel Horn said:

AMHS 25th Anniversary flag.


- displayed in the museum at Stewart BC.

[Wett Coast]

Here is that shiny new AMHS 50th anniversary logo:

Sept 3, 2012 14:51:24 GMT -8 Wett Coast said:

Here is that shiny new AMHS 50th anniversary logo:

Now if only BCF could hire the same brand identity designers as AMHS... I really like their new logo.

[DENelson83]

I'm plotting the Alaska Marine Highway routes on OpenStreetMap, but I have a bit of a dearth of information. I'd like to know the exact route the ferry between Sitka and Juneau uses. Does it pass to the west of Kruzof Island; go through the Olga, Neva and Peril Straits; or loop around the southern tip of Baranof Island?

[Name_Omitted]

Dec 12, 2012 16:13:44 GMT -8 DENelson83 said:

I'm plotting the Alaska Marine Highway routes on OpenStreetMap, but I have a bit of a dearth of information. I'd like to know the exact route the ferry between Sitka and Juneau uses. Does it pass to the west of Kruzof Island; go through the Olga, Neva and Peril Straits; or loop around the southern tip of Baranof Island?

East of Kruzof, up Neva Strait, cutting across Salisbury Sound (this part is way too short on a nice day, and WAY to long in bad weather), up Surgius Narrows and and Peril Straits, and into Chatham just south of Florence Bay on Chichagof.

With the exception of the Fast Ferries, our ships can't do Surgius on a running tide. If they miss the tide, they wait, and it is sometimes difficult for the system to make up time. I have heard the Kennikot occasionally has gone south of Baranoff to avoid the tide altogether, but she is the only ocean rated ship that sails the Southeast for AMHS, and so is the only vessel that could do that.

[DENelson83]

Dec 12, 2012 20:29:15 GMT -8 P_Keenleyside said:

AMHS has a vessel tracker:

[ www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/map.shtml ]

Following a sail periodically will provide the answer.

That would take a bit too much time.

Dec 12, 2012 21:41:54 GMT -8 Name_Omitted said:

East of Kruzof, up Neva Strait, cutting across Salisbury Sound (this part is way too short on a nice day, and WAY to long in bad weather), up Surgius Narrows and and Peril Straits, and into Chatham just south of Florence Bay on Chichagof.

With the exception of the Fast Ferries, our ships can't do Surgius on a running tide. If they miss the tide, they wait, and it is sometimes difficult for the system to make up time. I have heard the Kennikot occasionally has gone south of Baranoff to avoid the tide altogether, but she is the only ocean rated ship that sails the Southeast for AMHS, and so is the only vessel that could do that.

Thanks for the input. The Sitka-Juneau route is now plotted in OpenStreetMap. I'm in the process of plotting the entire Alaska Marine Highway network on that site.

[Name_Omitted]

Looks good.

[SolDuc]

Now that's what I call a populous ship!

www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/galleries/50th/feb/images/50th_feb_02.jpg

[Flugel Horn]

Feb 13, 2013 16:24:46 GMT -8 SolDuc said:

Now that's what I call a populous ship!

www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/galleries/50th/feb/images/50th_feb_02.jpg

That looks like the QE-II

[Flugel Horn]

AMHS has a special webpage for their 50th Anniversary:
www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/pubs/50years/index.shtml

Some of the celebrations involve the MV Malaspina, because she was their first AMHS purpose-built ship. ie. first built for the AMHS entity.

[Mill Bay]

This month, their feature is the "Expanding South, 1967-1968". Lots of good pictures of Stena Britannica alias MV Wickersham.

www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/pubs/50years/1967_1968.shtml