TO SAVE FERRIES, SOUTHEAST NEEDS MORE ROAD CONNECTORS
By WIN GRUENING
It has been said that, “A boat is a hole in the water into which you throw money.”
This is a truism known to every boat owner. A ferry is a boat too and, as Alaskans have learned the hard way, just a bigger hole into which you throw even more money.
Corrosion may be a nuisance on your vehicle’s bumper, but on ships, it can be catastrophic. Hulls can collapse, ballast tanks weaken, and motors fail, all because of rust. There’s no way to fully eradicate it.
According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, no organization knows this better than the U. S. Navy. Dealing with rust isn’t cheap. According to a 2014 report, the Defense Department has pegged the annual cost for anti-rust measures for Navy vessels at $3 billion, 25% of their overall maintenance expenses.
Rust is the result of a chemical reaction between air, water and iron – a major component of steel. Add saltwater to the mix, and corrosion accelerates.
Ships denied maintenance for long periods are likely to develop corrosion problems along the waterline where the seawater and air meet. Deferring remedial measures allows rust to accumulate and causes serious problems in just a few years.
The only deterrent is regular maintenance. So it’s not surprising that, as of this week, possibly only two of the 12 Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) vessels will be operational. Some are on long-term layup, but others are suffering from unanticipated maintenance problems, including rust-related issues.
Where does maintenance rank as an overall AMHS budget priority? Apparently, not as high as labor costs that consume almost 70% of the AMHS budget.
Broken-down ferries have severely impacted coastal towns relying on their heavily subsidized ferry service to transport people, vehicles and goods. Estimates for return to service range from weeks to months depending on the nature of the problem and funding availability.
The long-ignored Southeast Alaska Transportation Plan has always advocated putting roads where you can and ferries where you must. But the politics of extreme environmentalism and ferry unions have stymied that common-sense effort for decades.
Even now, opposition to the Kake Access Project championed by SE Alaska State Sen. Bert Stedman continues. This year, DOT plans to begin building a road link between Kake and Petersburg with 13 miles of new single-lane road connecting existing Forest Service roads on northern Kupreanof Island. While this project will require additional road construction and a short shuttle ferry to complete the connection, when it’s completed, it will provide more efficient transportation than past ferry service and give Kake residents access to daily jet service from Petersburg.
Likewise, a similar project on Baranof Island would provide less expensive and faster ferry connections for Sitka residents. Yet these projects, like the Lynn Canal Highway project connecting Juneau with Haines and Skagway, languish as our ferries continue to rust.
The irony surrounding obstructionism of roadbuilding shouldn’t be lost on anyone.
For all the caterwauling about fossil fuel use and carbon footprint, some road opponents continue to perpetuate the myth that ferries are “environmentally friendly.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Juneau Access (Lynn Canal Highway) EIS explains it very well. The project, when built, would increase travel capacity over 800%, and, at the same time, lower the average gallons of fuel used per vehicle by 70% – a direct result of the disproportionately higher fuel usage of gas-guzzling ferries.
Just another reason to build roads where you can and only deploy ferries where you must.
Ferry system subsidies (which are much higher relative to roads) will never be acceptable to the vast majority of Alaskans until serious efforts are undertaken to “right-size” the system, minimize expenditures, and increase efficiency by building road links where possible.
Millions of dollars have been wasted studying the ferry system while ridership has declined, and ships have deteriorated. Defeating rust is only part of the challenge. Whether it’s corrosion, bad engines, or inefficient operation, roads will always be more reliable and less expensive than ferries.
Hopefully, the newly formed AMHS Reshaping Working Group will reverse AMHS’s course and include road building as part of the revitalization of our ferry system.
Win Gruening retired as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in 2012. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is active in community affairs as a 30-plus year member of Juneau Downtown Rotary Club and has been involved in various local and statewide organizations.
Canada and Washington make money off of the Alaska Ferry system.
Time for those ports to contribute or we need to eliminate the southern half of the route. After all, the Alcan highway is paved.
There’s lots of places that could benefit from roads, just need to duct tape the mouths of a lot of greenie weenies.
Elimination of Federal oversight of State lands would be huge step in the right direction.
Please help me understand how Canada (presumably British Columbia) and Washington State make money from their ferry systems?
That’s like asking how does the Ted Stevens international airport not make money for the City of Anchorage.
Seriously? That’s like asking how how Ted Stevens international airport makes money for Anchorage.
There is no reasonable comparison in terms of magnitude of people nor tons of cargo between Ted Stevens Airport and Canadian and Washington State ferries. Ted Stevens Airport is deeply involved in interstate and foreign commerce. That simply is not so for Canadian and Washington State ferries. Those ferries are essentially a waterborne intrastate (providence) commuter service. So, once more, please explain how Canadian and Washington State make money from their ferry systems?
Donald, read his post again, slowly.
Same principal applies, State pays dock space and employees, no cost to Seattle. Then what ever is spent on gas, food, lodging and whatever else tourists spend is a plus for their economy.
We get the privilege of losing money on the ferry.
WA state ferries don’t make money. That why voters in Spokane and all folks east of the Cascades want to form a second state of WA.
Go to Prince Rupert in British Columbia, Canada. Ferry terminal for AMHS, Washington ferries and Canadian ferries. Each one of those pays a docking fee.
If I understand your comment correctly, docking fees are an economic stimulus? If so, for whom? Docking fees are a cost to ferry operations, so from that perspective ferry operators would seek to reduce or avoid docking fees. From the perspective of ports collecting docking fees they need a balance between acceptable fees and confiscatory fees. If it is the latter ship operators will seek other ports. So, I guess the purpose of your comment eludes me.
Spoken in the voice of reason, thank you.
In 1963 AT&T put in service its first cable ship the USS Long Lines. It was a very stout blue water vessel with a length of 511 feet, beam of 70 feet and draft of 27 feet. Unlike AMHS ferries, AT&T spared no expense maintaining the Long Lines. Nevertheless, by the time the Long Lines was retired in 2003 0.25 inches of her hull thickness had disappeared because of corrosion. Now that might sound trivial to the uninitiated, but consider how much steel simply vanished from the hull of a ship with those dimensions. That was the primary motive for scraping the vessel.
Since I was there, I can unequivocally say that the Long Lines received orders of magnitude better maintenance than AMHS ferries. The reasons are three; (1) it was prudent vessel maintenance, (2) out of service for unexpected repairs was intolerable, and (3) AT&T with lots of money could afford lavish maintenance. The reason this comparison is significant is to illustrate that the useful life of AMHS ferries is at, or very near, the end. There may be some bandaids that can keep the AMHS ferries operating at a reduced schedule, but if the AMHS is to continue with any semblance of significant and reliable service new vessels are necessary. I doubt the state can afford that for what amounts to a convenience for such a small segment of the population.
Soon as there’s a law that says rich families can’t buy up all the right-of-ways dirt cheap, and then resell them back to the state for obscene profits, I will vote to approve more roads. ie: Back in the 70’s – Murkowski family property on Gravina Island, which covered proposed route from Saxman to International airport.
Mr. Gruening’s essay is incredibly well written, factual and plain common sense. The politics of minority personal desires and misguided environmental campaigns, rather than true state needs, must be overcome. If not the income clock ticks away and we can not kick the can down the road for much longer. The ferry system is not an entitlement for the southeast.
Please show me just one place in “The Constitution of the United States” that it says anything about “Federal oversite of State lands”. Article 6 says that this Constitution “is the Supreme Law of the Land”. Seymour Marvin Mills Jr. sui juris
Why is it deemed by some to be worthwhile to maintain roads and not ferries? The equipment used to do the road maintenance, including avalanche control as in that near Girdwood and Valdez, consumes fuel and is subject to rust as well. If the issue is how many people use the transportation corridors, then Alaska certainly gobbles up more than its share of federal subsidies for transportation.
Because the ridership of ferries is abysmally scant when compared to usage of roads. No matter how you choose to measure the cost, to move a passenger one mile on a ferry is orders of magnitude greater than on a road.
Don,
Keep trying and you will come to the Truth.
1. Roads do rust, Bridges Do Don…
2. Ferries do not require Avalanche control or SNOW PLOWING or stripping, or repaving.
3. Ted Steven’s Airport is the only Economic output for the entire City of Anchorage. Pray tell Don, how many million oz. Of Silver or net tons of fish or hundreds of thousand of oz. of GOLD does Ted Steven’s produce? Real Wealth Don… not just refueling aircraft.
Southeast , heck Juneau alone eclipses Anchorage in real economic terms. Two world class mines , busy fishing Port and yeah, that million Tourist a year thing.
Point is Don, we need roads and we will always need ferries. Alaska is a big place, Don, much to learn here. Why would you punish an economic region?
Inasmuch as fewer than 1% of Alaska’s population and virtually no significant commerce is transported by the AMHS, ferries are not critical to the state’s economy. The AMHS is an financial millstone dragging down Alaska’s economy. With regard to Juneau’s economic contribution it has a population 1/10 the size of Anchorage and a commensurate economic contribution.
Don,
You make my my point for me. Yes , even tiny Juneau with only 10% of Anchorage population produces exponentially more real world commerce than Anchorage.
I believe we as a State need to intelligently reform and develop our Transportation infrastructure, however it needs to mot be a knee jerk reaction with decisions made by welfare addicts.
Because roads are analogous to the port facilities, not the boats. I would have no problem with the state maintaining the port facilities, and even small passenger ferries, sized for the traffic levels, maybe even with space for a few passenger cars. But on the physical roads they maintain, you’ll note that the traffic, the actual boat analogies of cars and trucks, are privately owned and privately paid for. There should be private, not exorbitantly paid public employee union-manned, passenger and commercial traffic allowed to use the port facilities for nominal fees with the costs borne by the end users. The idea that commercial traffic is shipped at state-subsidized rates on state ferries is absurd in this day and age. That is simply the rest of the state subsidizing a few anti-road NIMBY’s lifestyle choices.
Absolutely! We do not have state employee bus drivers, short-haul drivers, long-haul drivers and we certainly do not have state owned buses or state-owned short and long haul commercial vehicles…other than those used in state business, not as a commercial service. We also do not have a state run aerial highway system with state employee pilots and aircraft, other than those used in state business, not as a commercial service.
Genus, the roads cost about $0.20/vehicle mile to operate and maintain; the ferries cost $5.00/vehicle mile or more to operate and maintain.
Governor Egan must be smiling today when reading this piece….He was a true Alaskan and a builder of roads to connect Alaska and its people….
Win your argument is factually false roads cost money and lot to maintain. AMHS is considered by the Fed a highway a connector to highway 7 thought the Island it brings in revenue the roads you talk about don’t weak weak argument do your homework before you write a political statement like this…
The State D.O.T. can’t even get a project like Shelter Cove done in a timely and efficient manner. They can’t even keep the web page on it current. Four year now (not counting planning and design) and it is still not done. 30 million for 7 miles of new road and 13 miles of existing road. And people want them to run a fleet of ships? The top dogs at D.O.T. are making six figures and this is what we get? What am I missing here? It looks like Craters of the Moon in downtown Ketchikan on the stretch of road D.O.T. is responsible for. I guess we have to have an earthquake before we get it fixed.
Just wait until the first ferry has its first confirmed case of COVID-19. Everyone going to start flying?
This is a very important issue for our communities. Maintaining the operating integrity of our roads and preventing corrosion in can help prevent serious health hazards as well as reduce the high cost to repair or replace down the road.
It’s a mistake to cavalierly characterize opposition to connector roads proposed by DOT as inevitably being environmental activism. I’m sure there’s some of that there for some projects, but as far as I’m aware, these plans involved very little input or consent from areas they would impact. Case in point, Kupreanof Island is apparently to receive a road stretching from Kake to the shore of Kupreanof island (if memory serves, Petersburg Creek, which would be a manifestly impractical area). Kupreanof residents don’t want Kake traffic spitting out into the midst of their community, which was conceived in its town charter as a roadless city not because of environmentalism but because people just want to be left alone and there are some places in Alaska where you can still do that. There are other viable options outside the city limits that would provide a less impactful place to put a road and port. It’s disingenuous for DOT and road proponents to tell those in the community actually impacted “this is how it’s going to be” and then act shocked that they are not thrilled with the process.
Ah, NIMBY-ism. We want to be alone… as long as the people we don’t want around pony up to pay for the shipping we need to make our lives comfortable.
Wow. Thanks Win for a fact filled and thought provoking article. It appears Alaska is in an economic crunch and everything needs to be on the table.
During this maintenance downtime for the AMHS, the private operators on the Yukon River continued without any state money and had no problems. When you spend 70% of your budget on personnel, then you should have look no further for where to cut the budget. You can’t operate a transportation system efficiently with unionized state workers. This downtime illustrates how little planning when into fleet management.
Kake to Petersburg, Fake News, $40 Million for a single lane road to no where, for 800 people, seriously. Do your homework. The road ends where there are no existing facilities. You would have to have a vehicle on Mitkoff island and Kupurnoff Island. Makes no sense. Not to mention the maintenance facility and personnel to maintain this isolated road.
There is a reason everyone in Petersburg is opposed to this massive waste of money. Except of coarse Sitka resident Burt Boy. Ironically the Village of Kupurnoff has a Ordinance prohibiting Vehicles on their side of the island.
What Southeast has to come to terms with is simple, if you have runway and get daily mail service, that is it. Unless your community is large enough to warrant Ferry service, no further obligation from the SOA is required. It just shows how Southeast Alaska is going to be the toughest group to wean off the SOA largess.
I went to work for the Alaska Dept of Highways in 1964. While there I took part in the design and survey of a road from Haines to St James Bay on the west side of Lynn Canal. That was when the National Environmental Act was passed. When we finally did the Environmental Impact Statement, it was discovered that a great deal of environmental damage would result, mainly the wrecking of the eulachon run in the Chilkat River which would have wiped out a bunch of eagles and everything else depending on the run.
We studied the road from Kake to Petersburg, and it was the economic study, not the environment that killed it.
Years later, in private practice, our company, PN&D lobbied for a road up the Taku River that would connect to the interior road system at Atlin, BC. I spent a lot of time studying the route. It was said that the Taku Glacier was advancing which would preclude that route. We debunked that theory, and were able to lobby the legislature for money to study the route. The road would mainly have benefited The Yukon, although it would have been built entirely in British Columbia. A powerful legislator in British Columbia who lived in Stewart opposed the road, because Juneau would have been in direct competition with Stewart as a port. As a result the premier of British Columbia wrote a letter to DOT/PF denying that route as a possibility.
I did a study for a single lane road up Bradfield Canal, but the economics didn’t work out. Dot/PF studied one up the Stikine River, with the same result.
I haven’t heard for awhile how it is working, but Prince of Wales Island created a transportation authority, because Marine Transportation wouldn’t give them enough service. I studied the terminal. sites at Coffman Cove on Prince of Wales and another at Mud Bay on Mitkoff Island. They built two ferries and the terminals, one providing service from Ketchikan to Hollis, the other from Coffman Cove to Petersburg through Mud Bay and Wrangell. Each ship had a crew of only 6, and they didn’t run 24 hours a day. Crew costs were a fraction of Marine Transportation’s costs. I don’t know if they are still running, since I left Alaska 20 years ago.
They need more roads. but ferries will always be a part of the system. Coastal Alaska must have a viable marine transportation system.
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