CITY OF KETCHIKAN

Alaska Approves Vigor Purchase of Alaska Ship Leases

Alaska has approved Vigor Industrial’s bid to assume Alaska Ship & Drydock’s (ASD) private/public partnership leases to operate the Ketchikan Shipyard. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority unanimously voted today in Anchorage to transfer leases to the new Vigor Alaska Ship & Drydock subsidiary, clearing the way for Vigor’s acquisition of the operating company. The purchase was first announced Feb. 7 pending AIDEA approval. As AIDEA executive director Ted Leonard noted in his report to the Authority board of directors, “The transfer of ownership [of the shipyard operating company] will enhance the opportunities at Ketchikan Shipyard to bid on and win Alaskan-based business given the experience, supporting facilities and greater financial capacity of a larger company.” “Due to Vigor’s financial strength, and the creation of synergies with the other Vigor companies,” Leonard's report adds, “the operations in Ketchikan will be more efficient and more cost competitive with other shipyards (regionally and globally), furthering the sustainability of the Shipyard as an economic engine for the region.” Officials of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and the City of Ketchikan also approved the transfer. “We start today working with the people here in Ketchikan and throughout Alaska to build even more maritime and industrial jobs at this great facility,” said Adam Beck

Safety Violations Halt FV's Voyages

Law enforcement officers from USCGC Mustang terminated an F/V's voyage in Prince William Sound, after they discovered safety violations aboard the vessel. The USCG cited Sheelagh M's captain for several violations, including: Not having immersion suits for the four people aboard his vessel; not having the required number of fire extinguishers; and having a cracked life-ring buoy. Also, enforcement officers from USCG Station Ketchikan terminated vessel Cape Fairweather because of safety

DOT Signs Metlakatla Ferry Contract

The Alaska Marine Highway ushered in a new era in marine transportation for the community of Metlakatla with the signing of a contract to between the Department of Transportation and Conrad Industries of Morgan City, LA to build a new ferry. The new vessel will provide dedicated service between Metlakatla and Ketchikan, two of the Inside Passage’s southernmost communities. Southeast Region Director, Bob Doll , represented the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities at

Fast Vehicle Ferry in Early for Lay-up

Two sailings for the M/V Fairweather, the state’s fast vehicle ferry, have been cancelled so that the ferry can be taken to Ketchikan for lay-up. Fairweather would normally have sailed to Haines and Skagway on Sunday, January 23, and to Sitka on Monday, January 24. “We announced on January 3 that, without a new agreement with the maritime unions to allow the Fairweather to be economically operated through the winter season, we would cease operations on January 25,”

Coast Guard Conducts Law Enforcement in Southeast

Coast Guard boarding teams from the Coast Guard cutter Naushon and Coast Guard Stations Ketchikan and Juneau terminated the voyages of two fishing vessel and intercepted an intoxicated boater in Southeast. A Coast Guard cutter Naushon boarding team conducted a random safety boarding aboard the 32-foot fishing vessel Tsunami, based out of Seattle, Saturday in Clarence Strait. During the boarding it was discovered that the vessel had the correct number of survival suits onboard but two of

ASD Opens State-of-the-Art Production Center

New State-of-the-Art Shipbuilding Production Center Opens For Business In Ketchikan, Alaska. Alaska Ship & Drydock Already at Work on the First Vessel to be Completed in the Facility, a 136’ Longliner. The outlook for building new ships at Alaska Ship & Drydock (ASD), a Vigor Industrial company, just got a lot brighter, warmer, and drier with the opening of the Ketchikan Shipyard’s state-of-the-art assembly hall designed to build ships up to 500 feet in length

Conrad Awarded Ferry Contract

Conrad Industries, Inc. announced the award of a $9.5 million contract for the Alaska Marine Highway System. The contract award calls for the construction of a 181-ft. ferry capable of transporting 149 passengers and 18 vehicles. When delivered, the vessel will provide service between Metlakatla and Ketchikan, two of the Inside Passage of Alaska’s southernmost communities. Kenneth G. (“Jerry”) Myers, Jr., Conrad’s President and CEO commented

Fishing Vessel Captain Medevaced by Coast Guard

A rescue helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City and a 47-foot rescue boat from Coast Guard Station Atlantic City responded to the fishing vessel Shoreline, a 60-foot scalloper homeported in Atlantic City, after receiving a distress call concerning a hurt fisherman. The captain of the boat, a 40 year-old-male, had his arm caught in a wench, resulting in severe injuries to his hand, face and body.

Alaska Shipbuilder Finishing Unique Ferry

A unique $68 million ferry – an icebreaking catamaran with a variable draft for landing -- is nearing completion at Alaska Ship and Dry Dock in Ketchikan Alaska, according to a report from the  Alaska Journal of Commerce. The ferry is scheduled for christening in January 2010, going into service the next year. The U.S. Navy will test the vessel, and turn it over to the Matanuska Susitna Borough. Anchorage and Mat-Su officials must still determine where the vessel will dock on the

USCGC Acushnet Decommissioned

The 67-year-old Cutter Acushnet, the Coast Guard's "Queen of the Fleet", is moored to the pier prior to the cutter’s decommissioning ceremony at Base Support Unit Ketchikan Friday, March 11, 2011. The Acushnet served as a medium-endurance cutter in the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, and Arctic Ocean. Primary missions included search and rescue, homeland security, maritime law enforcement, and environmental protection. U.S