The Southeast Alaska community of Pelican will get monthly ferry service this summer after all.
A revised Alaska Marine Highway System schedule released April 24 restores monthly sailings to the remote community on western Chichagof Island. And there’s some better news on the other side of the island as well: After having its May sailings canceled, Tenakee Springs will now see the ferry LeConte twice in June.
Both towns were hit hard by the winter breakdown of the ferry system. Neither has had a sailing since October of last year, frustrating the towns’ mayors as well as many residents. Being left off the draft summer schedule entirely only added insult to injury. Business owners in particular were left scrambling for alternative options to move freight during the summer months.
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities later revised the summer schedule, sending the LeConte to Pelican and Tenakee Springs in May, but those trips were recently canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.
Instead, the LeConte will now sail once a month to Pelican from June through September, in addition to the two trips to Tenakee Springs in June.
