Following complaints about diminished ferry service to the upper Lynn Canal, the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) added two January sailings between Juneau, Haines and Skagway on a private catamaran.
The passenger-only ferry will be operated by Goldbelt Inc., the Juneau-based Native corporation.
The ship will leave Juneau at 8 a.m. on Jan. 24 and Jan. 29 and will depart Haines for Skagway (then Juneau) at 11:15 a.m.
Tickets are being sold at $58 per passenger. The contract costs the state $6,305 per sailing. More runs will be added in February if needed, according to DOT.
Last month, the state canceled sailings from Jan. 13 through the end of the month due to delays repairing the Matanuska, which will be at the Ketchikan shipyard until Jan. 31, barring further delays. The LeConte entered overhaul in Ketchikan earlier this month.
CoastAlaska recently reported that AMHS is prepping the Tazlina, the three-year-old vessel that has been tied up all winter in Auke Bay, but as of Wednesday the AMHS schedule showed no sailings with that ferry. According to CoastAlaska, the Tazlina could be ready for service by early February, but the state has struggled to hire enough crew members and to maintain certificates necessary to sail.
In early December, Haines Mayor Douglas Olerud and Skagway Mayor Andrew Cremata co-signed a letter to AMHS asking for an explanation about why the state didn’t have a backup plan, such as deploying the Tazlina or extending the LeConte’s service, for canceled sailings up the Lynn Canal.
“The AMHS provides an essential service to Skagway and Haines. The system has an obligation to make the best use of its assets, vessels, and crew, in order to serve the communities who depend upon it. Make no mistake, families are moving away from our communities because of unreliable ferry service during the winter months over the past few years,” the letter read.
The mayors sent a second letter after receiving no response. Olerud said they finally received a reply but it was “a bunch of government-speak.”
The state also entered into a contract to use Allen Marine Lines (AML) passenger-only ferries to make up for a lack of service across Southeast “as needed,” but as of Wednesday no AML vessels were scheduled to call on Haines.
Bookings for the Goldbelt ferries can be made on the AMHS website.