The Alaska Dept. of Transportation announced Monday that May sailings of the ferry MVTustumena are canceled due to unexpected repair work.
The ferry's first 2016 trip servicing the Aleutian chain will now depart about two weeks late.
Tustumena sailings from May 15th through the 26th are cancelled; the ferry is expected to return to service for the season on Friday, May 27th.
DOT spokesman Jeremy Woodrow says the cancellations were unavoidable.
"And what's really unfortunate too is that this is the second year in the row that we've had to cancel the first chain run due to what's called discovery work during the vessel's annual overhaul," Woodrow said.
Woodrow says every time the department sends the vessel to the shipyard for an annual inspection or capitol improvement project, they ask the shipyard to do a comprehensive tune-up.
"Just as like if you were to take your car to a mechanic and say, do the full inspection. Doesn't mean the full inspection is going to recover issues, but if they do, they will fix those before you go back out on the road. And this is the same case with the Tustumena. Unfortunately this time when they were doing discovery work, they found some steel in the car deck area that needs to be repaired and the extent of the repairs are going to take longer than was scheduled for the vessel's overhaul," Woodrow said.
He says there's no chance of the repairs being completed earlier.
"They're working as fast as they can to do the repairs that were necessary during its scheduled overhaul, and this is on addition to it. Even though that they do schedule space for those discovery repairs, the extent of these repairs are going to take much longer unfortunately that that was scheduled. And there's no way the vessel can be certified by the Coast Guard for safety for the passengers before these repairs are made," Woodrow said.
Alaska Marine Highway System (AHMS) representatives will contact ticket holders for the cancelled sailings this week to either arrange itinerary changes or refunds. Woodrow says passengers who have made connecting travel arrangements are out of luck.
The AHMS "doesn't compensate passengers for any other reservations made, or penalties they may incur for their other means of travel. Unfortunate, but that's the way the Marine Highway System has to do business due to its budget constraints," Woodrow said.
The revised sailing schedules and other information will be posted on the AMHS website, says the department. The first ferry to Dutch Harbor isn't expected until the beginning of June.
