Alaska DOT eyes charter vessels for Angoon, Hoonah and Kake

The MV LeConte sits at the dock in Angoon on March 28, 2019.
The MV LeConte sits at the dock in Angoon on March 28, 2019. (Photo by Nat Herz/Alaska’s Energy Desk)

The state is seeking to fill gaps in Southeast Alaska ferry service using a private charter company. It gave potential operators a day to answer its Monday call for interest.

The public notice seeks ships capable of ferrying 125 passengers between Juneau’s Auke Bay terminal and Hoonah, Angoon and Kake. The communities aren’t scheduled to receive a state ferry until March.

Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities spokesperson Sam Dapcevich said the state agency is exploring alternatives to the Alaska Marine Highway System’s fleet.

“AMHS wants to see if there’s competition in the marketplace for this type of service this time of year and how much it would cost,” Dapcevich told CoastAlaska on Monday.

Hoonah Mayor Gerry Byers said his small city is having a tough time without regular ferries. There’s no barge service, and getting vehicles and goods back and forth is putting the squeeze on the island town 40 miles southwest of Juneau.

“I think it’s a good step by the state to try to help support the community,” Byers said Monday. “Even if it’s just just passengers being able to leave.”

Bad weather constantly cancels floatplanes, making it tough for people to reach Alaska Airlines jets flying out of Juneau, he added.

But none of the officials in the three city offices contacted by CoastAlaska said they had any idea that private ferries might be in the works. Byers said DOT has not coordinated with the villages, and this was the first he’d heard of the scheme.

“It is nice that they’re thinking of us,” he said of the state transportation agency. “It’s just, I wish we’d had a little more planning and a little more — giving the businesses more time to work on this.”

Last month, the state chartered a boat from Allen Marine Tours to ferry passengers stranded after the state ferry Matanuska broke down in Juneau on its way to Haines and Skagway. The ferry remains sidelined until March.

The city of Angoon also chartered Allen Marine boats late last year. That cost the small city around $8,000.

The deadline for potential charter operators to respond to the state’s request for interest was the close of business on Tuesday. Long service gaps driven by budget cuts have cut off a number of communities around Alaska, including in Prince William Sound and the Southeast island hamlets of Pelican and Tenakee Springs.

No other communities were included in DOT’s request for interest. The public notice asks for service to begin as early as this week, but Dapcevich said that was apparently a mistake.

“It was not meant for actual service this week,” the agency spokesperson said. “It was meant for an information-gathering public notice.”

A $250,000 study commissioned by the Dunleavy administration on the future of state ferries had found privatization of ferry routes without subsidies would not be feasible. But it did say smaller ships could service some routes on a contract basis.

“With longterm contracts, private entities would likely be able to develop appropriately sized vessels that are better matched to the demand for services to/from smaller communities,” the consultants wrote.

This story has been updated.

 

Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska

Jacob Resneck is CoastAlaska's regional news director based in Juneau. CoastAlaska is our partner in Southeast Alaska. KTOO collaborates with partners across the state to cover important news and to share stories with our audiences.

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