The Alaska Marine Highway System ferry M/V Kennicott will be delayed due to hurricane-force winds in the Gulf of Alaska, announced the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

“Looks like there’s a wind event or a system that’s moving northeasterly across the gulf that’s bringing some really strong winds,” said department spokesperson Sam Dapcevich in an interview.

The vessel will sail empty to Valdez and moor alongside the city pier, which will provide more shelter than the state pier from high winds. Delays in ferry scheduling due to winter storms are not unusual, Dapcevich said.

“We had a delay in November for a storm,” Dapcevich said. “I could probably win a bet by saying it happens at least once each winter.”

The revised schedule has the vessel arriving in Juneau next on Dec. 24.

Dapcevich said some built-in layovers will be cut short to make up for lost time.

The AMHS will contact travelers to let them know about the rescheduling, Dapcevich said. The ship should be back on its regular schedule by Jan. 4, Dapcevich said.

The schedule adjust for delays is available here http://dot.alaska.gov/amhs/doc/service_notices/ken_122120.pdf.