Forecasted heavy weather is the reason why several sailings are experiencing schedule changes with the Alaska Marine Highway System. They include the M/V Tustumena and M/V Kennicott.
The M/V Tustumena sailing on Wednesday, November 17th from Homer to Port Lions has been delayed to Thursday November 18th due to forecasted heavy weather. In addition, the M/V Kennicott’s cross gulf departure today out of Juneau will have a delayed departure on Wednesday, November 17th due to forecasted heavy weather.
The M/V Tustumena serves South Central and Southwest Alaska, including Homer, Kodiak, and the Aleutian Chain to Dutch Harbor. Service is provided year-round to the communities of Kodiak, Ouzinkie, and Port Lions; however, weather restrictions preclude ferry service in the winter to the other communities in the region. The M/V Kennicott connects the regions of South Central and Southeast with sailings across the Gulf of Alaska.
The forecasted heavy weather includes Gale Warnings and a Heavy Freezing Spray Warning issued for the Northern Gulf of Alaska Coast up to 100 nautical miles out including Kodiak Island and Cook Inlet and a Winter Storm Warning for Yakutat on Tuesday.
At last report, the M/V Tustumena was in Homer and the M/V Kennicott was in Juneau.
In addition, the M/V Tusstumena is heading to the shipyard later than expected, so sailings were added from November 16th through the 28th and the M/V Kennicott’s schedule was revised from November 27th through December 23rd to accommodate sailings affected by an extended M/V Matanuska vessel overhaul.
For complete service notice information, click here.
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities oversees 237 airports, 10 ferries serving 35 communities, over 5,600 miles of highway and 776 public facilities throughout the state of Alaska. The mission of the department is to “Keep Alaska Moving through service and infrastructure.”
NOTE: photo courtesy of the Alaska Marine Highway Facebook page