(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska  – Today, the Alaska Marine Highway System announced they notified employees of the M/V Aurora Thursday that they will be relieved of service effective Jan. 14, 2020.

Approximately 24 employees will be impacted and the Alaska Marine Highway System is following procedures outlined in the union contracts.

According to the Alaska Dept. of Transportation, in November, after thorough inspections of the 45-year-old M/V LeConte and the 43-year-old Aurora, the Alaska Marine Highway System decided to move forward with repairs for the LeConte. It was determined that significantly more repair work was required than originally budgeted and the Alaska Marine Highway System does not have the funds to repair both vessels.

The Alaska Marine Highway System plans for the LeConte to return to service May 15, 2020 after the steel repairs are completed.

The Aurora is currently being prepared for long-term layup at Ward Cove in Ketchikan.

Yesterday, the AMHS announced the M/V Matanuska has added a northbound stop for Kake on Dec. 13 at 9 PM.  The return trip departs Juneau on Dec. 15 at 4:45 AM, arriving at Kake on Dec. 15 at 11:45 PM. These additional stops required adjustments to Matanuska's schedule from December 11 to December 16. The MV Tazlina has added sailings to Angoon on Friday December 13th and Sunday December 15th and the MV Tazlina has a schedule change rerouting Hoonah to Gustavus to accommodate the Gustavus basketball teams return home on December 21. See the AMHS service notices page for details and other schedule changes.

Edited by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

Source of News:

Alaska Department of Transportation - AMHS
www.dot.state.ak.us

 

 

 

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