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Gary Albert Stevens, 53, passed away in June in his Las Vegas home of natural causes. His memorial service will be at 5 p.m. on Thursday, August. 31, at Chief Shakes House on Shakes Island in Wrangell, Alaska, followed by a reception and potluck at the American Legion Hall. Gary was born to Gary James and Susan Georgina Stevens on March 28, 1970, the first grandchild born to the Feller and Stevens family in Wrangell, Alaska. He was Tlingit and Haida of the Naanyaa.iee clan. His Tlingit names... Full story
The state ferry Matanuska will not return to service from its winter overhaul as scheduled next month and will require millions of dollars more of steel replacement work if it is ever to get back to work. In its place, the Alaska Marine Highway System plans to put the Columbia back to sea after almost 30 months in layup status to save money. The loss of the Matanuska will mean more than a month without ferry service for Petersburg. The ship had been scheduled to resume sailings the first week of February to replace the Kennicott, which was...
After 56 years of service in the Alaska Marine Highway System fleet and almost three years tied up at a Ketchikan dock, unused and in need of costly repairs, the Malaspina is headed to another career as a privately owned floating museum and employee housing. Plans also call for using the ship as a classroom for maritime industry jobs. The state last week accepted $128,250 for the 408-foot-long passenger and vehicle ferry from the recently formed Ketchikan company M/V Malaspina. The company is a subsidiary of Ward Cove Dock Group, owned by John...
Our mother, Lois Ellen was born on August 26th, 1935 in Mandan, North Dakota to Alice and Carl Schiller. Growing up on a family farm, following the Great Depression, were challenging times in the rural Midwest: no electricity, running water or phone service. Mom could recall meager living with no money for holiday celebrations or frivolous gifts. A favorite memory was a ballpoint pen given to her when she was learning to write. Education was extremely important to her father, and he impressed... Full story
The state has started negotiations to sell the Malaspina to a company owned by a business that operates a new multimillion-dollar cruise ship terminal at Ward Cove in Ketchikan. M/V Malaspina LLC and the Alaska Department of Transportation “have agreed to negotiate in good faith on the sale of the 59-year-old vessel,” the state announced Monday. “MVM’s letter of interest outlines a plan to use the Malaspina to showcase Alaska’s maritime history and support a Ketchikan-based tourism business,” the state said. “Among other uses, they propose...
The Alaska Department of Transportation is asking anyone interested in taking ownership of the nearly 60-year-old Malaspina to speak up by March 7. The state has been spending about $75,000 a month to keep the unused ferry moored and insured at Ward Cove in Ketchikan for more than two years. The ship has not carried passengers or vehicles since late 2019, and requires tens of millions of dollars of repairs, steel replacement work and new engines to go back into service, according to the...
The 2022 commercial Tanner crab fishery is set to open Friday at noon with this season's mature male abundance biomass predicted to be 5.81 million pounds in Registration Area A according to Joe Stratman, the lead shellfish biologist for Southeast Alaska with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. That prediction comes from a 2021 survey which uses stratified sampling to estimate mature male Tanner crab abundance spanning from the Dixon Entrance to Cape Fairweather. This year's prediction is...
The heavy-lift vessel Red Zed I resurfaces with the former Alaska Marine Highway System fast ferries Chenega and Fairweather on its back last Friday in Tongass Narrows in front of Ketchikan. The Amak Towing vessels Ethan B. and Jennie B. moved the 235-foot-long ferries from their moorings in Ward Cove and into the narrows, where the Red Zed I has been anchored since April 2. The 712-foot-long lift vessel submerged, allowing the ferries to float aboard for the long voyage to their new home in...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal agency announced Wednesday it has awarded a contract to rebuild its port facility in Ketchikan, work state leaders called overdue. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it awarded an $18.8 million contract to Ahtna Infrastructure and Technologies, LLC for the project, which includes upgrades such as a new office building, a floating pier and revamped utility systems for use by visiting ships. The existing pier will be removed, the agency said in a release. The project is set for completion i...
After spending almost $1.1 million to keep the vessels out of service to save money and safely tied up the past several years, the state last week sold its two fast ferries - built at a combined cost of $68 million less than 20 years ago - for just over $5 million. Mediterranean-based catamaran operator Trasmapi had offered about $4.6 million for the Fairweather and Chenega. The company serves the Spanish island of Ibiza, about 70 miles off the coast. The state was able to negotiate the final...
At a cost of almost $200 million, the Alaska Marine Highway System took ownership in the past 17 years of two ferries it could not afford to run and two that it could not run everywhere they are needed. That is painful. The state is selling the two it can't afford to keep fueled, while spending millions to add new doors so that the other two ships can call on smaller communities in Southeast. And even then, it will take additional millions of dollars in remodeling before one of the two can...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska is redoubling efforts to sell two fast ferries by accepting sealed bids. The state Department of Transportation issued a public notice of the bidding process Thursday, CoastAlaska reported Monday. The state set a minimum reserve price for each ship but does not plan to reveal the amount until the bids are unsealed Dec. 15. Prospective buyers are required to post a refundable $25,000 deposit with each bid for the M/V Chenega and M/V Fairweather. The agency told lawmakers earlier this year that the cost of mooring b...
Decades ago, the Alaska Marine Highway System was a pillar of the state’s transportation network. Alaskans and visitors alike piled onto ferries running up and down the Inside Passage for a trip that was a little adventurous, a little luxurious — Dining rooms! Staterooms! Bars on board! — and close enough to the cost of driving through Canada that they were a strong contender for traveler dollars. Fast forward to the present, and the system is in grave danger of falling to pieces. Its only operating vessel until early March is the MV Lituy...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — More than half of Alaska’s ferries will be out of service amid a lack of funds to repair the vessels, transportation officials said. The state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities announced this week that the Aurora and the LeConte will be pulled from service after inspections revealed required steel replacement, the Juneau Empire reported Friday. About 24 employees of the Aurora were already notified they would be relieved of duties effective Jan. 14, officials said. The Aurora is set for long-term lay...
After thorough inspections of the 45-year-old M/V LeConte and the 44-year-old M/V Aurora, the Alaska Marine Highway System is moving forward with repairs for the LeConte. Engineers inspecting the ships determined that both will require extensive steel replacement. The Aurora will require 20% more steel to be replaced and locations are more challenging because of associated electric, plumbing, and hydraulic lines. Repair work on the Aurora will be more expensive and will take longer. Estimates fo...
At a school board meeting last week, Petersburg School District Director of Activities Jaime Cabral said that a recent research project revealed that school districts within Southeast Alaska spent $1.9 million in one year traveling with Alaska Airlines. The figure only takes into account the amount of money the region spends on travel for activities, like basketball games at other schools or regional and state competitions. Cabral said that Alaska Airlines is looking at possible solutions to...
The Alaska Marine Highway System removed the FVF Fairweather from service and transported the vessel to Ketchikan where it waits to be put up for sale. Last week the FVF Fairweather sailed from Juneau to Ketchikan's Ward Cove where it will be stored. Both the FVF Fairweather and the FVF Chenega, which has also been put in storage, will be put up for sale in the coming months, according to Department of Transportation public information officer Aurah Landau of Juneau. "AMHS has determined it...
Many of the strongest and best memories from my childhood growing up in Juneau revolve around riding Alaska's ferries to swim meets to communities like Petersburg, Sitka, and Ketchikan. And later, as an adult, I have traveled across Southeast on ferries dozens of times for family trips, to deliver orthopedic clinics and surgery to remote communities, for hunting, and for basketball games. Those trips opened my eyes to the astounding beauty and breadth of our state, and they introduced me to...
JUNEAU — The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) is making a vessel route change with the goals of saving money and utilizing the new Alaska Class Ferries (ACF) as soon as possible. AMHS will move the ACF Tazlina to Lynn Canal to replace service by the F/V Fairweather, starting in May 2019. The ACF Hubbard will move to Prince William Sound to replace service provided by the Aurora in 2020. “I commend AMHS for taking a hard look at the system and recognizing opportunities to save money,” said DOT&PF Commissioner John MacKinnon. “By putting...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The crew and passengers of a fast ferry celebrated the vessel's possible last voyage in southeast Alaska over the weekend. The ferry Fairweather traveled from Skagway and Haines to Juneau on Sunday, taking its last trip in the area for the season before continuing operation in the Prince William Sound, CoastAlaska reported this week. Two new ferries of a different class are expected to enter the service of the Alaska Marine Highway next year, casting doubt on the future of...
After watching a U.S. Coast Guard video clip of their rescue, skipper Steve Berry recounted his experience last summer when the Kupreanof sank off Cape Fairweather. "I wake up every morning and I have to realize the boat went down but my crew didn't," Berry said. Berry noticed a slight list and thought he should change the fuel tanks to counter balance the vessel but it didn't help. He soon called a nearby Icicle vessel, the Gordon Jensen and the U.S. Coast Guard. Berry said it was around 3:30 a...
Alaska claimed the top three fishing ports for landings again last year, and led all U.S. states in terms of seafood landings and values. “The Alaska port of Dutch Harbor continued to lead the nation with the highest amount of seafood landings – 761.8 million pounds, 87 percent of which was walleye pollock,” said Dr. Richard Merrick in announcing the national rankings last week from the annual Fisheries of the U.S. report for 2014. It’s the 18 year in a row that Dutch Harbor has claimed the top spot for fish landings. Kodiak ranked second...
If you have traveled past Farragut Bay during the past couple of years, you have probably noticed the white, almost ghostly looking trees heavily peppered among what was once healthy forest. Those are dead yellow cedar, and the remarkable thing about the dead trees-also known as snags-is they can remain standing for up to 100 years. The decline in yellow cedar came on the radar of the US Forest Service (USFS) in the 1980's, but USFS research plant pathologist Paul Hennon says the problem was...
Five of Alaska Marine Highway System’s 11 ferries will be laid up at some point next year under a draft vessel deployment plan released on June 24. The Taku will be held in layup status the whole year, while the Kennicott will be from October until entering overhaul in early January. The Fairweather and Chenega will enter federal projects in October and mid-September, respectively, and will both be laid up starting in May 2016. The Malaspina is also scheduled to enter layup status in late May of next year. Under the draft schedule, from O...
Owned by local fisherman Jay Thomassen, the 73-foot fishing vessel Kupreanof went down early Wednesday morning on the Fairweather Grounds. U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Third Class Meredith Manning said Sector Juneau watchstanders received the mayday call from the ship's captain at 3:42 a.m. and launched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Sitka. The helicopter crew located the sinking vessel between Cross Sound and Yakutat Bay. Manning said the four crew members were in their... Full story
