The Alaska Marine Highway System announced Wednesday it’s chartering a private company to provide interim passenger service between several Southeast Alaska communities.
The state has hired Allen Marine Tours to run daytrips between Juneau, Kake, Angoon and Tenakee Springs. Those runs will be Saturday, Feb. 29 and Tuesday, March 3.
A second route between Sitka and Juneau was included in the $22,150 contract signed this week. Those dates have not been announced.
Regional ferry service has been suspended since the ferry Matanuska broke down in January. State officials say it will likely need to be dry-docked in Ketchikan’s shipyard. It remains tied up in Juneau’s Auke Bay.
Fares will be the same as on a state ferry: $80 one-way between Juneau and Kake and $56 between Juneau and Tenakee Springs. Tickets are available through the marine highway’s reservation system.
The ferry Tazlina is scheduled to resume service next week to Angoon, Hoonah, Juneau, Haines and Skagway. Service to Wrangell and Petersburg is not expected to resume until mid-April, when the ferry Columbia returns to service.
The ferry system also has yet to release a final schedule for this spring or summer, but it says that schedule will be available by the end of this month.
