Last week the state published its fall/winter ferry schedule, from Oct. 1 through April. As proposed in the draft schedule released in July, Haines will see an average of one ferry a week in January and February.
Three or four ships a week will come to Haines in October through December and March and April.
Slight tweaks were made to the proposed schedule that was subject to public comment last month, including maximizing service around regional basketball tournaments. But the changes didn’t increase the number of ferries coming to Haines in the middle of winter.
“You can’t support the Haines economy, or the Juneau economy for that matter, with one vessel a week,” Sen. Jesse Kiehl told the CVN in July.
The Matanuska will call on Haines twice in the first and fourth weeks of January and the fourth week of February, and once in the second week of January and first and second week of February. There won’t be service during the third week of either month.
The LeConte and Kennicott will be in winter overhaul during those months.
The Columbia, the largest ship in the fleet, and both of the state’s new $60 million ferries will remain out of service. The Tazlina is being held at Auke Bay to save money, while the Hubbard will be under construction as it’s equipped with crew quarters to ready it for trips longer than 12 hours.
The marine highway system this year also has been understaffed, although fifty additional crew were recently hired, according to state Department of Transportation spokesperson Sam Dapcevich.
A federal infrastructure bill, passed by the U.S. Senate but awaiting a vote in the House of Representatives, would inject about $200 million into rural ferry systems across the country. It’s unclear how much would go to the Alaska Marine Highway System and whether or how soon the funding could have an effect on the ferry schedule. “At this point it’s too early to say,” Dapcevich said.
The bill also would allow the state, if its legislators choose, to apply federal highway dollars to the ferry system’s operating costs. The legislation also would allocate $250 million for a test program to build electric or low-emission ferries, including at least one in Alaska.
The House could vote on the bill by late September.