The Alaska Marine Highway System is contracting with a private marine transportation company to add a ferry service two additional days this month.
Golbelt will provide marine transportation from Juneau to Haines and Skagway on Thursday, Feb. 16 and Wednesday, Feb. 22.
Haines and Skagway elected officials and borough and school staffs have been lobbying AMHS for more ferry service.
“We’ve been working in concert with Skagway to have AMHS bring additional contracted ferry service to Haines and Skagway through the end of February, due to needs of the school system and local residents,” Haines Borough manager Annette Kreitzer told the CVN.
Mayors Douglas Olerud and Andrew Cremata signed a letter to Department of Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson requesting additional ferry service.
“Teachers are deciding to leave the communities because they cannot have dependable transportation to get in and out of the communities for vacations, conferences etc.,” they wrote. “Juneau has the most medical specialists in our region – for patients undergoing cancer treatments, travel to Juneau becomes a week-long experience.”
They also cited student travel needs that often leave students out of school for a week at a time.
The contracted dates will help school athletes travel for sporting events. The Haines middleschool wrestling team is traveling for a tournament on Feb. 16 and the basketball teams are traveling to Juneau for a tournament on Feb. 22.
For both new ferry dates, a Goldbelt vessel will depart Juneau at 8 a.m. in Auke Bay’s harbor and arrive in Haines at 10:45 a.m. It will depart Haines at 11:15 a.m. and arrive in Skagway at noon. The vessel will depart Skagway at 12:30 p.m. and arrive in Juneau at 3:30 p.m. The AMHS sailing calendar will be updated to reflect the sailing details.