Is Prince Rupert pondering repairs for AMHS dock to assist return for Alaska Ferry Service?

The current status and future operations of Alaska Marine Highway service to Prince Rupert continues to be a working theme for the Alaskans, the most recent progress towards a return coming out of the Southeast Conference Sessions from earlier this month.

At the February 12th City Council  session, Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond provided City Council with a short overview of that forum which he attended virtually from his office at City Hall.

The Mayor observing at the time that there's not a lot of news to share and that the return seems still off in the distance.

"There is no good news, there's nobody's got a magic wand to solve all of the issues to restoring that service, except that, there is an appetite and a hunger for the communities of Southeast to see it restored.

I heard a number of Mayors talk to that point when they had a chance in front of government.

And the Alaska Marine Highway System themselves, continue to maintain that as an objective to return service to Prince Rupert.

But, there are some major hurdles to that and I won't go into them, except to say that the dock here needs a lot of work and there's some barriers to having it fixed and there's not a vessel right now that can do that route, because it has to be safety of life at sea certified, so there's barriers.

But there is an interest"

While Mr. Pond didn't go into the hurdles too much for council or the public on February 12th; when it comes to some of that path forward. A start towards a return could come with some construction work ahead in Prince Rupert.  

The AMHS Dock at Fairview when last in use in 2019, the dock
infrastructure is in need of extensive work to bring it up to standard 

An update on the state of disrepair of the AMHS dock in Prince Rupert  and a potential solution towards it comes  through an item of note from the Ketchikan Daily News coming out of the Southeast conference Sessions.

The Ketchikan newspaper having interviewed AMHS Marine Director Craig Tonga who observed on the potential dock concerns.

"A possible solution that has emerged from recent meetings would have Prince Rupert cover the roughly $35 million replacement cost for the dock, rather than the state of Alaska contracting for the work, with Alaska reimbursing the city by increasing its annual lease payments by about $1 million a year."

The North Coast Review has put in a request with City Hall for some clarification and background towards that element of the AMHS situation, though so far we have not received any statement or background sheet towards it.

The topic of the Dock has been one that has been part of the past narrative for the piece of infrastructure on the Fairview Bay waterfront.

The original repair plan got caught up in some International negotiations over the Buy America provisions that the Americans were putting in place as the financials towards the work would be coming from American federal resources.

In 2021, Alaska Representative Dan Ortiz suggested that some thought was being given to make use of the BC Ferry Dock, while the AMHS dock issues were sorted out.

All of that became somewhat irrelevant as larger challenges for the Alaska Marine Highway Service evolved and the full on suspension of service to Prince Rupert continued, owing largely to the lack of a vessel.

From this month's Southeast Conference comes a pretty useful tutorial towards all of those challenges facing the Alaskans when it comes to their Marine Highway.

A presentation from the AMHS provides a look at their vessel and infrastructure planning.

The You Tube  archive of the Southeast Conference session dedicated to AMHS provides for a full on seminar on how they hope to resolve the myriad of transportation issues and how they hope the future will unfold.

The story of the suspended service to Prince Rupert has made for a long running narrative since 2019, though all of the discussion has yet to bring a return of the north-south connection between Ketchikan and the city. 

Beyond the status of the dock, it would seem larger issues need to be resolved before we see another port call from the north.

More notes on Marine Transportation on the North Coast and into Southeast Alaska can be reviewed through our archive page.