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Post by SS Shasta on Aug 3, 2010 17:54:55 GMT -8
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Post by alaskanmohican on Aug 3, 2010 20:42:29 GMT -8
Overall a nice article. I haven't seen the final numbers for the first part of Summmer, but traffic does seem to be up.
The comments about the Bellingham run are interesting. When the Columbia departs Bellingham she is sold out of car deck space, every week since the beginning of June except for one.
What I find interesting is the remark about not being able to book Bellingham because it is full. Actually it is following the same pattern as it did last year. We have car deck space on Columbia until either the day of sailing or a few days before. There have been very few sailings that are sold out months in advanced when it comes to cars. The staterooms are sold out well in advance, but if you wanted to, as of today, you could reserve space on any northbound Bellingham run from this week untill the Malaspina takes over in mid September. And then the main reason for the sell outs is that the Mal is smaller than Columbia.
Other than that little bit, overall the article seems pretty good, at least it is a positive article.
Another note, the article remarks about ridership in Prince William Sound and the South West region being up. This is true, it is a pattern that began back in '05 or '06, about the time the Chenega came online.
Last year, while the overall ridership numbers for AMHS were down, the Prince William Sound and South West regions were up. This upward climb appears to be continuing this year, so this is very good for that area.
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Post by SS Shasta on Aug 17, 2010 10:05:21 GMT -8
Does anyone know about the van traffic on AMHS vessels? On my most recent trips I have notices that the number of vans being carried appears to have declined sharply. During the 1970's and early 1980's I remember that vessels were full of vans and it was sometimes difficult to book vehicle space unless it was done months ahead.
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Post by alaskanmohican on Aug 17, 2010 14:04:02 GMT -8
I do not know the numbers, but I do beleive that the van traffic is down from the 70's and 80's. There is more competition now for van traffic. Barge lines have more frequent service than they use to, and they are typically pretty good about keeping thier schedules. Also the Alaska Highway is in better shape than it was during the 70's and 80's.
There is still a fair amount of van traffic in certain parts of the system. Mainly between larger towns and smaller communites, so not necessarily on the mainline.
Larger shipping companies still use AMHS, but not as much as they use to. However, smaller, locally owned shippers still use the ferries regularly.
So overall, yes I would say that van traffic is definatly down from what it used to be.
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Post by SS Shasta on Jun 30, 2011 7:23:48 GMT -8
Does anyone have any recent estimates of traffic loads for this summer season? How has the Bellingham run been impacted by the recent changes?
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