A cruise-ship lightering boat pulls up to a dock near Ketchikan’s Berth 3. Ships forced to anchor in Tongass Narrows use such boats to bring passengers to shore. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)
The city of Ketchikan has hired Turnagain Marine Construction to repair Ketchikan’s Berth 3.
Work starts today. Repairs should be complete by July 5, possibly earlier.
City Manager Karl Amylon said the contract is for $928,580. He said inspection, engineering and other associated work will likely bring the full cost to no more than $2 million.
Amylon said the city expects to be reimbursed for the work
“The cost of repairs to Berth 3 as well as the loss of port revenues will be covered by our insurance. And I would assume our insurance carrier will be in touch with the insurance carrier for Celebrity relative to whatever they’re going to be paying us,” he said.
The berth was damaged when the cruise ship Infinity slammed into it Friday afternoon. Its owners blamed the incident on heavy winds.
A cruise-ship lightering boat passes a salvage tugboat docked at Ketchikan’s Berth 3, which was damaged by the cruise ship Infinity on Friday. (Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)
The cost is lower than initial estimates. Amylon said surveys showed no substantial underwater damage.
He said damaged dolphins, where ships tie up, will be capped, not replaced. He doesn’t expect pilings to be replaced.
And so far, the floating dock the ship struck won’t need substantial repairs. But more inspections are due.
“They’re going to come in to do some non-destructive testing of the facility to ensure that we haven’t missed anything that’s not going to be covered in the immediate repairs that Turnagain is going to be doing to get the berth back in service,” he said.
When there’s room, cruise ships scheduled to tie up at the damaged berth are being shuffled to other docks. When that can’t be done, they’re anchoring offshore and bringing passengers in on lightering boats.
They’re dropping off passengers at a ramp near Berth 3, to continue the flow of traffic to nearby businesses.
But Amylon said repair work may get in the way.
“It may necessitate lightering to a different location. But to the extent we can, we’re going to try to get folks into Berth 3. If we can’t because of construction, then that’s something we’re just going to have to live with,” he said.
The dock impact left the Infinity with scrapes and a small hole, all above waterline. They were quickly repaired and the cruise ship is maintaining its Alaska schedule.
It will be back in Ketchikan on Friday.
