Design plans have been finalized to add crew quarters to the state ferry Hubbard, which hasn’t been in service since it was built a few years ago because its intended routes would go beyond limits for employee working hours.
The Alaska Marine Highway System is getting ready to seek bids for the project.
“We’re hoping to be in a shipyard somewhere ... by the first of November. That’s our goal,” John Falvey, general manager of the marine highway, said Aug. 23. “We don’t know where. Could be here (the Ketchikan shipyard), could be the Lower 48.”
The work is being funded with Federal Highway Administration money, Falvey said. He declined to say how much the installation might cost. The use of federal funds requires competitive bids for the work.
“We’ve got an engineer’s estimate in mind, but I’m not going to quote that because folks will be bidding on it,” he said.
Past news reports have put the estimate at about $15 million. The state paid about $60 million when it built the ferry a few years ago, relying entirely on state funds so that it could avoid the federal bid requirement and give the work to the Vigor shipyard in Ketchikan.
When the state started designing the Hubbard, along with its sister ship the Tazlina more than a decade ago, the pair were envisioned as day boats making runs between Juneau, Haines and Skagway. Consequently, neither vessel was built with crew quarters.
But at the start of 2019, the state revised the planned service routes to have the Tazlina run between Juneau, Haines and Skagway, and for the Hubbard to replace the older Aurora in Prince William Sound.
The Tazlina conducted runs in the Lynn Canal that summer and in 2020, but the Hubbard has not seen service since it was completed in 2019. The ferries are each 280-feet long with room for 300 passengers and about 50 vehicles.
But without crew quarters, neither boat can efficiently operate in Lynn Canal or Prince William Sound. U.S. Coast Guard rules limit crew to 12-hour shifts, which forces the ships to either tie up for the night or for the state to add crew quarters and put a second shift on board the vessel.
“Many of our runs stretch beyond that 12-hour day,” Falvey said. “The crew cabins are going to increase ... the vessel’s ability to basically run to any of our ports.”
Falvey said the marine highway hopes to have the quarters fully installed within eight to ten months. The timeline will vary depending on which company wins the contract.
“Embedded within these bids are timelines that shipyards can deliver with what they see in the design,” he said. “Different shipyards, some are smaller than others, or busier than others — depends upon the size of the yard, depends upon the workload that the yard has got.”
There will be other hurdles to clear, Falvey said. The Hubbard has no crew, and lacks a certificate of inspection and certification from the American Bureau of Shipping. The ferry system figures to resolve those issues by the time the ship is ready for service.
“The goal is, hopefully, between eight to 10 months, we’re sailing it out of a shipyard somewhere with a full crew on it, fully certified.”
Falvey said the ferry system has not decided whether the Hubbard will run in Prince William Sound or in Southeast. “That’s still a ways away.”
He’s also unsure how the state will proceed with work on the Tazlina. “We’re going to do one boat at a time.”
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