The largest of the state ferries, the 499-passenger Columbia, was still listed as inactive on the Transportation Department website as of Monday, with no indication it will go back to work this summer as was planned nine months ago.
Last August, the department’s draft summer 2022 schedule included the ship “penciled in” to run May 11 through Sept. 14, with weekly sailings to Southeast from Bellingham, Washington, “pending crew availability.” The run would have included weekly stops in Wrangell.
After months of nationwide advertising for crew, including contracting with an Anchorage-based recruiting firm that earns $5,000 for every applicant it brings in, the Alaska Marine Highway System apparently remains short of enough staff to put the Columbia back at sea.
As of March, the ferry system needed more than 100 new hires to officially put the Columbia on the summer schedule and start accepting passenger reservations.
The ship has 50% more space for cars and trucks than the second-largest ship in the fleet, the Matanuska, which sails between Bellingham and Southeast. Without the Columbia, the ferry system is stressed to handle this summer’s strong demand, and squeezed in an extra run for the Matanuska from Bellingham for next week to help accommodate close to 300 travelers waitlisted for travel to Alaska.
Department officials have not responded to Sentinel requests for information on the status of the Columbia, nor has the ferry system updated legislators on the prospects of the ship coming back to work this summer after being out of service since fall 2019.
As recently as mid-February, Transportation Department officials briefed legislators on plans to bring back the Columbia by May 1, pending sufficient staffing.
At that briefing, a doubtful House Speaker Louise Stutes said the department was “disingenuous” in continuing to talk of hiring enough workers and bringing back the Columbia. “That is not a good way to carry out your business,” the Kodiak legislator said at a House Transportation Committee meeting.
“Staffing goals for the summer season will not be met at current recruitment rates,” the department reported in its presentation to the committee in February, acknowledging that insufficient staffing could result in scaling back the ferry system’s summer schedule.
The Columbia was pulled from service in fall 2019 to save money, particularly when traffic was light during the peak of COVID-19 travel restrictions, and for scheduled overhaul and maintenance. Since then, the Alaska Marine Highway has lost far more crew to retirement and resignations than it has been able to make new hires, especially after deep budget cuts imposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
The Transportation Department has commented that marine operations worldwide, not just in Alaska, are reporting worker shortages.
The Columbia is scheduled for an extensive rebuild of its controlled-pitch propeller system starting this fall, raising questions among legislators whether the ship will be available in 2023 — even if the ferry system can hire enough crew.
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