By Juneau Empire Staff Report 

Mechanical issues forced the cancellation of the sailing of the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry LeConte between Haines and Skagway on Sunday, according to a release from the AMHS.

http://juneauempire.com/local/2011-10-09/leconte-set-repairs#.TpRaXt4r27t

Captain Mike Neussl, the director of the Alaska Marine Highway System, says the motion seeks to protect the state against prolonged loss of the Fairweather and Chenega due to engine degradation.

The motion asks the court to order the ship builder and engine manufacturer to maintain or fix the problem or replace the engines if they are decertified for use.

Captain Neussl explains that it could take a year to build new engines. As a result, he says the state could find itself in a position where the current engines are decertified well before the lawsuit is resolved.

The Fairweather was purchased in 2004 and the Chenega a year later from Derecktor Shipyards Connecticut.

The lawsuit was filed in 2010 against the ship builder and the engine manufacturers, MTU Friedrichshafen GMBH and MTU Detroit Diesel, Incorporated, alleging the engines did not meet contract and warranty requirements.

Captain Mike Nuessl, the director of the Alaska Marine Highway System says they are concerned about a reoccurrence of such problems in the future.

He says there is evidence of other “erosion – corrosion” type issues in the vessel’s other water jets.

Nuessl says they will be working with the manufacturer on the cause of the problem and what can be done about it.

Similar problems have not been detected with the fleet’s other fast ferry, the Chenega.
The captain says they will definitely look more closely when the Chenega goes into its maintenance period.

The Associated Press

JUNEAU – The state ferry Chenega has been docked in Cordova for inspection and repairs.

The Alaska Marine Highway System canceled sailings for the fast ferry until Saturday after its engines sustained some type of damage. State transportation department spokesman Roger Wetherell says that occurred while the ferry was sailing in Prince William Sound on Wednesday.

Wetherell says it appears oil or gas leaked from the ferry’s engines.

Marine highway officials say the ferry Aurora will provide evening service between Cordova and Valdez.

(JUNEAU, ALASKA) The fast ferry Fairweather will be out of service until early September.
The ship has been tied up in Juneau since a small oil leak was discovered Thursday evening in one of its four water jets, which power the ship.

Officials hoped to weld a temporary patch and return to service by Thursday. Further repairs would have taken place during a scheduled October overhaul.

But Captain Mike Neussl, who runs the ferry system, says that won’t work.

“Now the plan is to do the ultimate plan, which is to take the vessel to Ketchikan, drydock it, remove the water jet and repair it outside the vessel with a factory-approved permanent repair. That does involve welding and grinding back to original specifications, not just welding a plate over the pinhole that is in there,” he says.

Neussl says the Juneau-based Fairweather will be out until September 3rd.

Ferry staff are looking at alternatives for Sitka, which gets five sailings a week. One option would add staff to the ferry LeConte, so it could run a longer schedule.

They’re also considering options for its two weekly Petersburg sailings, which have attracted less traffic.

The Fairweather will sail to Ketchikan’s Alaska Ship and Drydock under its own power. Neussl says it can operate on three engines. “Obviously, we can’t be leaking oil all the way down there. If there’s oil in the system and it’s pressurized it’s going to leak. So basically we’ve got to vacate all the oil out of the system and not operate that No. 4 engine on the way down to Ketchikan to get it to the drydock,” he says.

He says about five quarts of oil leaked last week before the hole was discovered. It was cleaned up.

Neussl says the leak is not connected to ongoing engine problems that threaten to sideline the Fairweather and its sister ship, the Chenega.

Those problems are the subject of a lawsuit against the engine manufacturer and ship builder.

The fast ferries each carry up to 250 passengers and 36 vehicles.

Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Deputy Commissioner for Marine Operations Mike Nuessl said they discovered the problem Thursday night at approximately 10:00 p.m. He said they discovered an oil leak and boomed it off.

According to Neussl, the Coast Guard and all other appropriate agencies have been notified of the leak.
He said they put a diver in the water to find where the leak was coming from. He said they discovered that the number 4 water jet, which is the port-outboard water jet, appears to have a pinhole leak in one of the struts in the jet itself.

The Fairweather’s scheduled trip to Petersburg Friday and trips to Sitka on Saturday and Sunday have all been cancelled at this point.

Neussl said they do not have an approved repair plan authorized yet. The repair may in fact involve dry-docking the vessel, according to Neussl. He said they may be able to ballast the Fairweather enough to get the water-jet out of the water, once they get an approved repair scheme.

Again, due to mechanical difficulties, the fast-ferry Fairweather has cancelled Friday’s sailing to Petersburg and back as well as Saturday and Sunday’s runs to Sitka. We will update the repair situation as information becomes available.

“Our coalition strongly encourages the State of Alaska to appeal this flawed decision by the Ninth Circuit to the Supreme Court,” said Citizens Pro Road Chairman Richard “Dick” Knapp. “The Ninth Circuit is the most reversed Court in the nation, and this decision is just one more example of environmental activism overtaking sound legal judgment.”

The Court’s decision in favor of SEACC’s contention that State and federal agencies violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in the more than 15 years of work done on the Environmental Impact Statements associated with the Juneau Access Improvement Project is simply another in a long line of wrong decisions that have ultimately been overturned by the higher Court, Knapp said.

“The State and federal agencies looked at a wide variety of alternatives to improve transportation in the region. For SEACC and the other outside environmental groups to appeal the Record of Decision in the Courts at the eleventh hour with a trumped up alternative, sets a bad precedent for all of the other work the State is doing in full faith to align itself with federal and State policy,” said Paulette Simpson, a coalition member.

“We have been working through the process with five Alaska governors – going back to Gov. Walter Hickel’s administration – and after completing literally thousands of hours of public testimony, environmental assessments, and energy and economic impact studies,” said Sandy Williams, Vice Chair of Citizens Pro Road and former Department of Transportation official, “the State’s preferred alternative to build a road from Juneau to Haines and Skagway with a ferry terminal at Katzehin, is sound, correct, and desperately needed.”

According to Cathie Roemmich, CEO of the Juneau Chamber of Commerce, the Ninth Circuit Decision hurts people throughout the region. “It’s hard to believe that the Ninth Circuit Court’s solution to Juneau’s transportation dilemma is to take money and ferry service from our friends in communities throughout Southeast,” she said. “It is simply wrong and our coalition disagrees that increased Lynn Canal service should ‘come at the expense of service elsewhere.’ That is why our coalition is growing stronger by the day with individuals and groups willing to stand behind the State taking this case to the next level.”

“We agree with the dissenting Court opinion that stated ‘It was not arbitrary or capricious for the State to conclude that what amounts to robbing Peter to pay Paul would be ‘infeasible, ineffective, or inconsistent with the basic policy objectives of the area.’” Knapp said. “It’s unfortunate that just like in the School District’s case and in Coeur Alaska’s case, money and time have to be spent to reverse decisions made at the Ninth Circuit. We are confident of the same outcome in this case and support the State moving forward with an appeal.”

Download the PDF of this press release.

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Captain Mike Neussl, who heads up the Alaska Marine Highway System, says the problem was in one of the sensor information collectors in the automated control system in the unmanned engine rooms.

He says a technical representative was brought to Juneau to troubleshoot. He found the problem and replaced the defective component with a rebuilt and fully functioning one.

He says the Coast Guard cleared the Fairweather to sail after it determined the system was working.

The problem was initially discovered overnight Tuesday night to Wednesday morning.

The captain says the night maintenance crew fixed the problem but enroute to Sitka prior to reaching Sergius Narrows another portion of the system failed.

For safety reasons, he says the skipper decided not to go through the narrows and head back to Juneau.