The Alaska Marine Highway’s Matanuska mainline ferry remains tied up in Ketchikan on Monday with 34 passengers on board as transportation officials grapple with at least two newly discovered COVID-19 infections among the crew and a mechanical failure that has shut down one of the ship’s engines.
The Matanuska ferry arrived in Ketchikan from Bellingham on Sunday. It was scheduled to depart that day for ports north but was delayed after tests from the previous week showed at least one crew member had the coronavirus.
“Out of an abundance of caution, Matanuska was held in Ketchikan while the entire crew was tested, and one additional positive case among the crew was identified,” state Department of Transportation spokesman Sam Dapcevich said by email.
State officials have linked the two new cases to close contacts of the two engineering crew members that were infected last week.
Additionally, the ship’s starboard engine failed with an unspecified problem.
“The Matanuska is still in Ketchikan due to a mechanical issue with the starboard main engine, which will require technical support,” reads a service notice issued Monday morning. “Engineering staff is in contact with technicians, there is not an estimated time of departure at this point.”
The Matanuska is a mainline ferry. It was scheduled to sail north to major Southeast ports including Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau, Haines and Skagway. A second leg to Petersburg and Sitka is also scheduled this week.
Officials haven’t said when they expect the ship would be ready to sail.
This story has been updated.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the Matanuska was the sole operating mainline ferry in the fleet.
