Crew members tie up the fast ferry Fairweather in Sitka earlier this month. The ship and its sister, the Chenega, can now be tracked via an online interactive map. Photo by Ed Schoenfeld.
Alaska Marine Highway System travelers can now track all ferries online.
An interactive map showing nine of the ships’ whereabouts and expected arrival times has been available for about a year. The marine highway today (Aug. 14) added the fast ferries Chenega and Fairweather.
Spokesman Jeremy Woodrow says the ships couldn’t be part of the system until new connections were created.
“We were able to partner with the Marine Exchange of Alaska, which tracks all of our vessels. … Then it took a little bit of trouble-shooting to make sure that it worked well with our current system. Once everything was going well, we turned it live,” he says.
The online map shows every port city and each vessel’s location from Bellingham, Washington, to Unalaska.
It’s part of the marine highway system’s website, ferryalaska.com. To find the map, click on the “Plan a Trip” dropdown menu, then the system map link. (We have the direct link on our website.)
Woodrow says the interactive map is useful to ferry staff as well as travelers.
“If they’re curious whether the ferry’s on time or if they might have heard the ferry might have gotten out a little bit late, they can go onto the system map and click on the ferry they’re wondering about, and see the updated information on when its estimated time of arrival will be to its next port,” he says.
Clicking on a ship also shows location and speed. Clicking on a port’s name provides terminal location and phone number, as well as a link to community information.
