Unalaska’s City Council is asking the state to look into running a ferry between Cold Bay and Unalaska during the start of pollock A season in January, one of the busiest travel periods of the year on the Aleutian island.
The idea was brought to the local council during public comment on Aug. 25 by Tom Enlow, president of UniSea, a major seafood processor in Unalaska.
“The concept would be simple: fly seafood workers to Cold Bay and transport them by ferry to Dutch Harbor,” he said.
UniSea wrote a letter to the Alaska Marine Highway System in July. It asked if the state ferry Kennicott could be staged in Cold Bay for seven to 10 days during the peak transportation period for the pollock fishery.
Enlow said the goal is to explore ways to reduce the transportation bottleneck and improve access to Dutch Harbor and Unalaska.
Weather cancellations at Unalaska’s airport are common in January, and the planes fill up with A season workers and families coming back from the holidays. When flights get bumped, passengers get stranded in Anchorage.
This past January, it took nearly three weeks to clear the backlog, Enlow said.
“When that happens, the impacts go far beyond the seafood industry,” he said. “It affects the families trying to get home, workers trying to get to their jobs, medical appointments, our schools, the clinic, the community as a whole.”
The seafood processor asked Unalaska’s city council to back a feasibility analysis by the state.
“We're not presenting this as a long-term solution, or are we suggesting it's the only solution,” Enlow said. “We're simply asking whether it might be a practical way to provide some relief during one of the most challenging travel periods of the year.”
Two weeks later, on Sept. 8, the city council unanimously supported a resolution for a feasibility request.
It asks the Alaska Marine Highway System and the Alaska Department of Transportation to study whether seasonal or temporary service could be possible between Cold Bay and Unalaska, and what it would take to run it. The resolution doesn’t ask for a particular vessel, schedule or funding plan.
Council member Daneen Looby floated the idea that a ferry with a hub in Cold Bay could possibly also serve Akutan, King Cove and Sand Point.
“We might have a little bit more reliable and cheaper transportation in and out of the Aleutian Islands, so that more people can come out here and live and quit exiting our community,” she said.
Wanetta Ayers, executive director of the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference, attended the Sept. 8 City Council meeting online. She said the Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board, which advises the state on ferry issues, meets on Oct. 23. She encouraged the city to send the resolution to the board and have someone attend online to speak to it.
