Fate of Alaska Marine Highway Service to Prince Rupert for State of Alaska to announce

There is still no indication from the State of Alaska as to whether
Ferry service will ever resume between Prince Rupert and Ketchikan

Whether we will see the return of Ferry service between Prince Rupert and Ketchikan remains in the hands of the State of Alaska, with Mayor Lee Brain noting on Monday that he can't speak to the issue until an announcement is made by the State, at some point in the future.

"I have to wait until the Alaska Government is ready to say whatever  they are going to say. So I"m not at liberty to discuss yet. But when that time arises, the community will be notified at that time."

Mr. Brain was answering an inquiry from City Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa  at Monday night;s Council session, with the Councillor wondering if the Mayor had any information to share on the status of the AMHS service, which saw the last of two special sailings come and go on the 25th of November.

Those sailings took place after the City of Prince Rupert had provided the requested armed police support for the arrival and departures. The two special sailings were announced after the service was suspended for the foreseeable future by the State back in September.

Mr. Brain's vow of Omerta comes, as the posted schedules from the Alaska Marine Highway indicate that there are no scheduled sailings in the works to this point, for Service to and from Prince Rupert.

The Alaskans announced an end to the service on September 4th, over concerns that dated back to April related to security issues at the Prince Rupert terminal, owing to the lack of on duty armed police officers on hand to assist the US Customs and Border personnel.

The official end of service (other than the two special sailings) came at the end of September.

The Q & A between Mayor and Councillor can be viewed from the City's Video Archive starting at the 57 minute mark.

For more notes on Monday's Council session see our Council Timeline feature here.

A wider overview of Prince Rupert Council Discussion themes can be explored here.

While our look at Marine transportation on the North Coast can be found here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.