An Alaska state ferry hasn’t stopped in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, since fall 2019, but officials “remain hopeful” they can add back the Canadian port to Southeast Alaska runs on May 1.
“The Alaska Marine Highway System continues to work closely with both U.S. and Canadian customs regarding a return to service in Prince Rupert,” Sam Dapcevich, state Transportation Department spokesman, said in a Feb. 1 email.
The department and ferry system management “have multiple tasks to complete before we will be approved to re-commence service,” the marine highway has posted to its website. “However, we are making progress and remain hopeful for a May 1 return-to-service date.”
Customs-clearance issues in 2019 pushed the Alaska ferry system out of the Canadian port, where it had operated since the marine highway’s first runs in 1963, before the system extended its route several hundred miles south to Puget Sound.
The department will not make Prince Rupert bookings available on its website “until we’re certain of a May 1 start date,” Dapcevich said.
The plan since late last fall, which Dapcevich confirmed last week, has been for the Matanuska to make two round trips one week of each month between Prince Rupert and Ketchikan, which is about a six-hour voyage north of the Canadian port.
The ferry system’s summer timetable shows one week a month with two 17-hour “placeholder” openings in the Matanuska’s schedule that would allow the ship to run from Ketchikan to Rupert and back, with time for customs clearance, loading and unloading.
The customs-clearance issue became a problem in 2019 when the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, under the Department of Homeland Security, decided that armed law enforcement officers needed to be present while its agents conducted inspections at the Rupert ferry terminal.
The Alaska ferry system had brought customs agents from Ketchikan onboard the vessel when sailing to Prince Rupert so the officers could pre-clear travelers as they boarded for the U.S. Those officers were unarmed, which worked for decades.
“In order to reduce security risks to the U.S, and provide safety for the traveling public and unarmed CBP officers,” the federal agency determined that armed officers must be present at the terminal, the agency said in 2019.
Without an agreement and funding to contract with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for armed officers to work the ferry loadings, or armed U.S. agents, and unable to resolve the issue with U.S. and Canadian officials, the state ended its service to Prince Rupert.
The issue became moot in March 2020 when Canada closed its border at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Canada has since reopened its border.
In addition to resolving the issue of armed law enforcement personnel present during ferry calls, Dapcevich said the department is working to install a weapons safe at the terminal, new perimeter controls, confirming the dock and vehicle ramp are structurally sound, and “securing diplomatic notes of agreement between Canada and the U.S.”
Travelers and freight haulers long appreciated the option of taking the Alaska ferry to Prince Rupert rather than the longer and more expensive sailing to Puget Sound.
Prince Rupert officials in 2019 said about 14,000 travelers used the Alaska terminal each year.
The state has a long-term lease on the dock and terminal building, which is owned by the Prince Rupert Port Authority.
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