Downtown Juneau is scheduled to receive a sight not seen since the ferry terminal opened in Auke Bay — an Alaska Marine Highway System ferry docked on the waterfront. However the city decided to waive profiting from the once-in-50-years event.
As part of its 50th Anniversary celebrations, the ferry system plans to send the M/V Malaspina to Alaska ports from Ketchikan to Skagway for extended stays. Community events are scheduled to coincide and AMHS staff will be on hand to give tours of the Malaspina.
The ferry is scheduled to dock in Juneau on May 4. It will spend several hours at the Cruise Ship Terminal dock before departing for an 11-hour tour to Tracy Arm. The system chose to dock at the cruise terminal as it corresponds with the location of the former ferry docks.
The City and Borough of Juneau Docks and Harbors Board voted Thursday to waive the usual moorage fees vessels pay to dock downtown “as this is a special one-time event sponsored by AMHS,” Carl Uchytil, CBJ port director, said.
Uchytil also said docks and harbors plans to get tough on delinquent moorage fees in the city’s harbors.
“We need to vigorously prosecute,” Uchytil said, “Go after the worst offenders” through Juneau Superior Court.
Though contractors have recently announced the Statter Harbor rebuild is about a week ahead of schedule, completion of the project still wouldn’t happen in time for Juneau’s first cruise ship arrival on May 2. This could cause a conflict for fishing and sight-seeing charters based in the harbor.
Harbormaster Dwight Tajon said docks and harbors is aware of the conflict.
“We are working on it,” Tajon said.
• Contact reporter Russell Stigall at 523-2276 or at russell.stigall@juneauempire.com.
Comments (18)
Add commentThe "Aging Malaspina"
I love the Malaspina. The State almost sold her off, if not for hard work of the fearless crew of AMHS Merchant Mariners who worked tirelessly to set up a Northern Lynn Canal Day Boat schedule that would show at the end of that summer that the Mal could not only "break even" but also show a profit. Those who wanted the State to be rid of her were always referring to her erroneously as the "Aging Malaspina", when in reality, she is the Sister Ship of not only the Taku, but also the Matanuska. Granted she has not had the same amount of money and upgrades put into her as the Taku and the Mat, but she is the same age as her Sisters. And, I love this ship. From her quieter running (yet very fast) American made Enterprise V-12 diesel engines (with the chrome valve covers-Sweet!) all the way up to the deck where the bulkhead murals depict what I like to call the "Dr. Suess Moose" and that long two by two herd of funny looking Dr. Suess Caribou, she is a lovely Lady full of Alaskan Character! I worked her engine room many times as an Oiler, and I loved all of her. And so, Ladies and Gentlemen, take a ride on one of AMHS's fairest Ladies and enjoy yourself on a cruise through Tracy Arm!
P.S.
Did you know that at one time, the crew had a band room set up in the smoke stack, complete with drum set and amplifiers? The band only played when everybody was off watch at the same time, but, it was truly a unique bunch of musicians! I forget what they called themselves, but again, the M/V Malaspina has an amazing history!
Mal
My second arrival to Alaska was aboard the Mal in 1991.
This would be the second time the Mal has docked downtown within the last ten years for the same trip. Had a great time that day.
Crew Saves Passenger
And did you know that two lesbian lovers had a quarrel that nearly ended in a suicide if not for the quick thinking of a Steward's Department employee by the name of Mark? Can't remember his last name, but, here's what happened:
Two women, a couple, were aboard the Mal and going somewhere many many years ago here in SE Alaska. In the bar, another woman became enamored with one of these two ladies, and one member of this couple responded in kind. Jealousy resulted, and the jilted lover decided to take her life. So, she opened the port side boat deck door, propped it open, and ran from the starboard side in the foyer all the way across the carpeted deck to the port side (left side when facing the bow), ran out on to the weather deck and leaped over the side! A crew member, Mark Iforgethislastname, happened to be there taking in the view, saw this woman fly over the rail and into the water, and immediately went into action. On the intercom to the Bridge, in the manner prescribed by the Coast Guard, he gave the Man Overboard call. "Man Overboard! Port side! Man Overboard port side!" Then, he threw the Life Ring to the woman who had had an immediate change of mind and swam to and locked on to that Life Ring! Mark continued to point at the woman in the water as procedure prescribes.
And then, as the Bridge went immediately into action, conducting a Williamson Turn (which is the quickest way to bring a vessel back to the location where the Man Overboard call was made), he did an amazingly brilliant thing: He opened one up one of the life jacket storage boxes and began to throw life jackets over the side one at a time at evenly spaced intervals, which then therefore made a floating "orange trail" all the way back to the direct vicinity of the woman clinging to the Life Ring! The Malaspina completed her turn, followed the life jacket trail, a life boat was launched, the rescue was made, and the woman reportedly said that she instantly regretted her decision the second she hit that cold, cold, water. And so, hats off to the Stewards Department of the Alaska Marine Highway and the Captain, Mates and Deck hands on the Bridge, for, ALL CREW out there are professionally trained United States Merchant Marines!
When I moved from my
When I moved from my childhood home (Ketchikan) to Juneau in 1975, we came up on the Malispina and docked downtown. Then we went across the street and had breakfast at the City Cafe. Memories.
No AMHS Ferry Produces Profit
John, while your comments are well intended they are also off base. Not a single ferry or route in the AMHS produces "profit." While some routes may produce more revenue than others, all the ferries and routes require a substantial state subsidy to operate. I believe I last heard that the average was about a 70% subsidy from the State's general fund. In other words, the ferry system only generates about 30% of its operating costs through revenue - this includes the Malaspina.
@akpanhandler
Egan Drive does not generate a profit.
Seward Highway does not generate a profit.
Alaska Highway does not generate a profit.
Is profit the only thing that matters?
The police do not generate a profit.
The fire department does not generate a profit.
Schools do not generate a profit.
Heck...the Legislature does not generate a profit.
The courts do not generate a profit.
And on and on and on. Utility trumps profit.
It is the Alaska Marine HIGHWAY. It is not the Alaska Marine Profit Ferry for Tourists.
El_Boorba
You are correct. I never said that the AMHS should be self sustaining. I was only correcting Mr. Algernon in that the Malaspina does not produce a profit.
Profits...
It's hard for AMHS to turn a profit when they can't be used to turn a profit. If we wanted them to turn a profit, we'd get our legislators to allow gambling on them and dock downtown in Juneau and in Haines. We'd also be giving tours on them.
I'm not saying that's what I think we should do, but don't say AMHS isn't capable of turning a profit. Their hands are just tied.
John Algernon---
Great stories. Thank you!
John Algernon
Keep the stories coming! Maybe you could write a little book? I am good family friends of Erv Hagerup who I believe was a captain on the Mal (or maybe I'm confusing it with Matanuska). I bet if you got some other long time ferry workers you could get a nice little short story book together. I would buy that for sure!
Erv
yes he was capt. on the Mal, before becoming capt.on the Columbia.
AMHS
Well my story starts about 50 years ago while a lad with my brothers, mom and dad, grandparents on the maiden voyage such will re-occur in May. Things were really first class then, personnel, a ship and system designed to get Alaskans all over SE and especially safely to Seattle due to medical because "Pill Hill" was basically just up the street from the Alaskan way terminal. Anyway fast forward to when I started my own family, generation 4 and 5 now here in Juneau we had enjoyed traveling around to Sitka, Ketchikan and our highlight trip was on the ferry to Haines and Skagway taking small camping trips to Whitehorse in the car every year. Well now, on the return to Haines one year, we got in line early and the ferry showed up late, loaded the RV 's and tourist first, Alaskans last. Finally, got up to the chow-line with my 4 and 5 year old kids in tow, starving, looking forward to having a hot meal on the ferry and then when starting to order "the cook" yells out something kind of english
"wa clost, don lie it tawk to chop stwart" "coo samitch ova da" pointing over yonder... Slams a closed sign on the counter and walks off. Long story short, I did talk to a purser and they too seem disintersted, not to care about whether anyone received service or food, but did say pointing to a glass display " you can purchase cold sandwiches" oh, here our custome service survey please feel free to complete it.... Next stop Juneau. It was my families last ferry trip ever. We fly now, but it was not long after that I had heard that there was a cover up and 58 thousand dollars worth of prime rib walked off those boats in a year. Nothing surprises me. Yeah, AMHS is the best. Good grief, things have changed.
It would be nice to have a
It would be nice to have a ferry docking downtown.
Really why not.
Profit from Egan Drive?
Egan Drive not only produces no profit, it also cost the city a lot of history and a tourist spot. When it was proposed it would have gone right through the Red Dog, that is the reason Gordy and Virginia were forced to move across the street to near the Northlander, gone was all the history on the walls, along with Hattie and the tin can piano and the great log round tables! It never did go there but the effect on Gordy was something he never got over and the present Red Dog is nothing like the original! Sad
Le Conte
The Le Conte took passengers free both ways from Auke Bay and downtown during the 25th aniversity.
a story I don't believe
even though something similar may have happened I really doubt that a cook would have yelled "talk to the shop steward" ....perhaps one needed to talk to the chief steward. Galleys close on ships at 9pm, by the time all is cleaned up it is usually near 10 and the galley crew needs to be up by 5 to set up for breakfast....I could see why they don't want to mess up the clean grill just for you. Working 24 hrs a day just so you can get a warm meal is unrealistic, and a customer comment form is the only way to have the possibility of more crew in order to keep open in the galley 24/7. BTW how is the cold 7 dollar sandwich doing on the plane, and how is your vehicle doing in baggage claim? ;-) Prime rib has't been served on AMHS vessels for 20 years, where did you get that story?
docking downtown
is not viable due to no dock space, no ramps and attendant parking lot for vehicles. The reason the downtown terminal moved to Auke Bay is because the JPD really did not like vehicle staging on South Franklin street and there was no parking for vehicles of walk on passengers. I worked at the downtown terminal the last couple of years before it moved and the mess with passengers/vehicles etc was phenomenal. The only other viable place in downtown now, would be the old oil dock next to the Coast Guard dock, but you would have to have the state parking lot on the south side of Egan for terminal parking/operations...
AKpanhandler's comments
AKPAN,
The facts are these. The state wanted to sell the Mal. We crew didn't want to see her go. The State said she was a financial burden and needed to go unless she could bring in X amount of revenue. Many crew got together on their own and came up with a plan for the Mal to bring in that X amount by cutting certain costs, and yes, even certain crew member jobs such as Steward's Department jobs which existed to take care of the state rooms. The Mal Day Boat was born, and that summer, (I forget which year), the Malaspina brought in MORE revenue than the required and projected amount. The State relented and saw that the Aging Malaspina could in fact be operated in a "profitable" manner, that is, in a manner that was not the "economic drag" that she had become due to typical State fiscal mismanagement.
If you want to quibble over the word "profit", then go ahead. But the facts are there concerning this part of the Malaspina's history. Check with a guy named Jim Beadle who was a Chief Purser at the time. He and also that red headed bartender gal Andrea who used to work the Matanuska spear headed that selfless group of crew members who crunched the numbers and came up with the plan which saved the Malaspina. She's a lovely old ship and she is still here because a plan was developed and implemented to operate her in a profitable manner within the parameters of the AMHS budget. Profitable not in the sense of "business profit", but in the sense that it brought in enough revenue to continue to be viable relative to the State's projected costs. So, no, don't say I am "off base".
On that note, I have often said that it would be nice if the ferries were allowed to profit. Yes, commit two of the mainline ships to be gambling ships with bars and dancing girls and let em take people to nice spots where they can anchor up and reel in the cash! And then, use all the profit from those two and pay for all the rest! But, that ain't gonna happen. As Wrenn said, their "hands are tied".
And thanks for the compliments on the stories all!
A Day Boat Story
Concerning the Malaspina's first Day Boat season in Northern Lynn Canal.
Since the Day boat run was to serve Haines, Skagway, and then back down to Auke Bay to settle in for the night, as you can imagine, things got really "routine". Friends of mine that worked her that summer began to talk about how every single morning, everything happened the very same way. Breakfast in the crew mess, coffee and chit chat. Then the word coming down from the Bridge to go on Standby for departure and everyone going into action. The OS's and the AB's getting to the tie up stations to get ready to "let go". The Watch Engineer and the Oiler preparing and firing up the main engines. The Junior Engineer standing by to operate the closing of the car deck doors after the cars are loaded up. The First engineer going down to the Main Engine control room as the extra eyes and ears in the control booth for maneuvering away from the the dock (a Coast Guard requirement). And then, on the order from the Bridge, the lines are cast off and the trip to Haines begins. The continuation of the 12 hour work day moves on which will eventually culminate in an 84 hour work week. The trip to Haines, the tying up and untying there happens. The arrival and tying up and untying in Skagway happens, and then the southbound return.
And this happened the same way every day. Then, one morning, as crew were dragging their zombie-ized butts into the crew mess to "do it alll over again", somebody said something close to "Oh man, I feel like Bill Murray in that movie Ground Hog Day! Dang, this IS Ground Hog Day!" And everybody cracked up. And from then on, the term "Ground Hog Day" was used humorously on a regular basis. Some jokingly called the Mal the "M/V Ground Hog" And then, one morning, someone brought in a cassette recorder (or some kind of listening device), pushed the button, and the song "I Got You Babe" came on and everybody really cracked up! And, according to the whatever story teller told me this, that went on for some time.
And so, all you good people who ride those ferries, just remember that there are some really great people out there living in that unique world known as "shipboard life", working hard to safely get Alaskans and others from one point to another and also doing their best to make Life as pleasant as possible for themselves while putting in so many many hours. Make sure you get down to the M/V (motor vessel) Malaspina at the downtown dock and give the Old Gal a walk-through or a look-see. Or even take the cruise to Tracy Arm!