The Alaska Marine Highway System’s proposed schedule for summer 2012 would homeport the Malaspina in Juneau instead of Skagway, a move resident Robert Venables said would hurt Haines businesses.
Venables, a Marine Transportation Advisory Board member, said the Malaspina’s overnight stays in Skagway provide “quite some extra economic benefit” to Haines.
“It forces folks who are coming in (to Haines) late to, generally, spend the night, and those who want to leave early in the morning have to spend the night as well,” Venables said.
He said the ferry system wants to make the change because “it should be less expensive to operate, and their thought is that it would actually increase ridership.”
A public teleconference regarding the AMHS’s summer 2012 schedule is set for 10 a.m. Monday. The number is 1-800-315-6338, conference code 3902#. Comments also can be submitted to [email protected] or faxed to 907-586-8365.