Rough weather and a mechanical breakdown are affecting Alaska Marine Highway service in Southeast Alaska.
Fifty-knot winds and high seas predicted for upper Lynn Canal will prevent the small ferry LeConte from making its Jan. 9 sailings between Juneau and Haines, part of its route.
Officials said it will resume scheduled sailings with a trip to Kake that night.
The ferry Columbia also is sailing a modified schedule through much of the week, because the system’s largest vessel was sidelined for much of Jan. 7 due to a mechanical problem.
Alaska Marine Highway spokeswoman Aurah Landau said the ship won’t skip any port calls.
“It’s running about 12 hours late. It will be on a modified schedule through Thursday,” she said. “It’ll resume its normal schedule with a northbound schedule leaving Bellingham on Friday.”
The Columbia sails weekly roundtrips from Bellingham, Washington, to Skagway.
It stops in Haines, Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan along the way.
The problem occurred as the Columbia sailed from Bellingham to Ketchikan. Landau said what’s called a steering-indicator rod stopped working.
“That’s the piece that when the wheel gives the command to the rudders to move, through the electrical system, tells the steering mechanism that the rudder has moved,” Landau said.
A technician had to fly into Ketchikan to make the repairs, she said. This problem took less than a day to fix, much faster than a previous breakdown.
The Columbia returned to service in late October after being sidelined for about a year after a propeller struck a submerged object.
Parts weren’t available and had to be built from scratch.
The Columbia carries about 500 passengers and more than 130 vehicles. It also has about 100 cabins.
The LeConte carries fewer than half as many passengers and about a quarter as many cars and trucks. It has no staterooms.
