An open call for vessels that could fill in for the Tustumena ferry has ended, and the state came up empty-handed.
The Department of Transportation was looking for ships that could carry passengers and vehicles between Homer and Kodiak, and other communities in the Kodiak region, in early July while the Tusty wraps up repairs. Only one company responded -- Bering Marine Corporation of Anchorage. DOT spokesman Jeremy Woodrow says the vessel they offered wasn’t licensed to carry passengers, so it didn’t meet the state’s requirements for the route.
It’s official: the Tustumena will be delayed in shipyard through the end of July.
The shipyard’s general manager said last week that he didn’t think the vessel would be ready on time, and now, the Department of Transportation confirms. They’ve canceled the Tustumena’s July 7 run from Seldovia to Unalaska.
In less than six weeks, the Tustumena ferry is supposed to wrap up repairs and set sail to southwest Alaska. But the shipyard says that delivery date isn’t looking realistic.
As the state faces yet another blown deadline for getting the Tustumena back in service, they’ve started looking for other ships to pick up the ferry’s route.
As KUCB’s Lauren Rosenthal reports, it doesn’t have to be a perfect fit.
Pavlof Volcano shoots ash on May 16. (Courtesy of Theo Chesley)
Passenger and cargo airlines in southwest Alaska have been watching Pavlof Volcano closely, trying to determine whether it’s safe to fly past the peak.
PenAir restarted service throughout the state today, adding extra flights to Unalaska to relieve a backlog of passengers.
But as KUCB’s Lauren Rosenthal reports, the outlook from here on is mixed.
After a month-long outage, St. Paul’s federal radio weather service is finally back up and running.
The station broadcasts storm alerts and forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and it’s popular with crab fishermen working off St. Paul and St. George. The signal suddenly dropped out in April as the crab fishery was winding down.
Atka is home to just 71 people. But that’s about to change. As KUCB’s Lauren Rosenthal reports, the city’s processing plant wants to quadruple its workforce -- and with that, the community is ramping up a campaign to replace its dilapidated clinic.
Alaska State Troopers have closed their investigation into a death in Akutan, and say no foul play is suspected.
Simon Gatpan, 31, of Santa Clara, California, was found dead on a beach in the Aleutian community last weekend. Trooper spokesperson Megan Peters says an autopsy showed that he died of exposure. She adds that alcohol is believed to be a factor. Gatpan was last seen walking home from a local bar and was found unresponsive on the beach in the morning.
The Pribilof Islands of St. Paul and St. George are just 45 miles apart, but getting between them can be challenging because of limited flight service and the area’s notoriously foggy weather.
This summer, a regional community development group is hoping to solve that problem by contracting a ferry to run between the islands, but finding a suitable vessel has proved challenging.
