SitNews: Core Ferry Service to Continue

SitNews - Stories in the News - Ketchikan, Alaska

Core Ferry Service to Continue

July 02, 2008
Wednesday

Ketchikan, Alaska - The Inter-Island Ferry Authority board agreed Tuesday to maintain daily all-year round-trip passenger/vehicle ferry service between Prince of Wales Island and Ketchikan, and service every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through September 13 between Coffman Cove, Wrangell and Petersburg, stated IFA general manager Bruce Jones.

The board was faced with increased fuel costs and a million dollar budget deficit, resulting from a reduction in grant funds anticipated from the Federal Transit Administration. Faced with difficult funding decisions, the board decided that continuing to maintain reliable service between Ketchikan and Hollis, and the northern communities, was their top priority.

The IFA's revised operating budget is based on a combination of staff recommended system-wide cost cutting and implementation of an aggressive fund raising program, according to Jones. "We will not leave a stone unturned in seeking federal, state, and local government, and private sector support", he said.

The IFA was organized by the Prince of Wales Island communities of Craig, Klawock, Thorne Bay, and Coffman Cove in a coalition with Wrangell and Petersburg to provide improved ferry service to southern Southeast Alaska island communities. Daily year-round service between Ketchikan and Hollis with the M/V Prince of Wales was implemented in January, 2002. The M/V Stikine implemented summer seasonal service between Coffman Cove, Wrangell and Petersburg in 2006.