Alaska ferry delays lead to 20 cars being stranded in Homer

KODIAK, Alaska (AP) - Delays for an Alaska ferry caused by mechanical problems and bad weather have left 20 Kodiak-bound vehicles stranded in Homer.

The ferry was delayed for more than 33 hours, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Tuesday.

Alaska Department of Transportation spokeswoman Aurah Landau said a computer issue with the M/V Kennicott’s vehicle elevator started the problem. Once that was fixed, Landau said bad weather caused further delays to the vessel on its trip back to Kodiak.

The ferry eventually left Homer, and passengers could board, but lack of space meant that some of the vehicles had to be left behind.

Items left will be transported when the ferry next travels on April 21 and April 22.

Landau said the vehicles left behind over the weekend were a “mix of commercial and personal.”

Homer-based Kar-A-Van Transfer is one of the companies handling some of the vehicles.

Owner Russ Geagel referred to the situation as “a madhouse” and said that the freight that was supposed to make it to Kodiak ranged from building supplies to a truck full of groceries to commercial fishing equipment.

“We had a couple of new vehicles that were purchased in Anchorage going to Coast Guard people in Kodiak. They didn’t get them,” Geagel said. “We haven’t had a ferry service for like six weeks between Kodiak and Homer and the mainland.”

The delays follow a scheduled service gap for Kodiak of five weeks, one week longer than last year.

A Department of Transportation spokesperson said in January that the extended service gap was due to scheduled maintenance to the M/V Tustumena and a lack of funding, which saw the M/V Kennicott covering routes in Southeast in February and March.