Transportation

The Alaska Marine Highway System says the engines being used in their two fast ferries are defective and builders of the ships knew it when they delivered the ships only six years ago. But the ferries’ builders say it’s not their fault, and they shouldn’t be obligated to replace the engines when the warranty doesn’t cover it.

Judge Philip Pallenberg enters the courtroom lugging a stack of files and documents easily a foot high. He’s about to get handed a few more accordian folders that will extend that by several more inches.

“I think the state fired the opening salvo in this naval battle,” said Pallenberg. “So, I think the state should go first.”

October 7th’s skirmish in Juneau Superior Court was over the engines installed in the state’s fast ferries Fairweather and Chenega, relatively new ships with diesel-powered jet drives that push the catamarans at a nice 32-knot clip. That’s about twice the speed of the ferry system’s standard mono hulls.

State attorney Dana Burke is leading the attack for the ferry system. But he runs out of time during oral arguments to carefully cite excerpts of contract documents and internal memos. Burke says manufacturers of the fast ferries knew the engines were defective, almost as soon as they were installed. He said they breached warranties that called for repairs and – if necessary – replacement of the engines. For both ships, all eight engines have been valued at $20 million.

“And we cannot wait,” said Burke. He said both the Fairweather and Chenega are in danger of being decertified from passenger service in the very near future.

Burke wants the ship and engine builders’ liability extended to the engines’ defects, especially when they admitted to using the wrong kind of coolant (that accelerated corrosion in the engines).

Burke said that MTU instructed the state to stop using Power Cool 3000 because it might degrade a layer of molybdenum in the crank case cylinder bores.

David McMahon representing Robert Derecktor Incorporated said the state was not entitled to any more rights after expiration of a standard year-and-a-half warranty.

“These two vessels have been operated on an uninterrupted basis since they went into operation,” said Burke.

But Derecktor Shipyard is only one of the parties in the state’s lawsuit. The state’s real target is MTU Friedrichshafen and MTU Detroit Diesel, the German company that built the engines and the American company that did the subsequent repairs.

Jon Dawson, who has already been prepared for a response, said they already have a potential repair of an interstitial ring that they’ve been trying to install.

“Scare mongering and hyperbole aside, the principle issue in this case involves only one component of these engines: the engine block,” said Dawson.

Dawson said there are clear factual issues at what caused the faster-than-expected deteroriation; instead of the coolant – perhaps the Alaska environment, improper maintanence by ferry crews, even excessive vibration caused by a misaligned installation by the shipyard.

“You can’t wave a wand and resolve this wear issue when you don’t know what’s causing it,” said Dawson.

Dawson also says the engine warranty was assigned to Derecktor – the general contractor, not the final buyer of the vessels, or in this case, the state ferry system. And it did not include replacement of the entire engine, beyond the engine block.

But the plantiffs always have the last word in any courtroom argument.

“Something’s wrong with these engines. They’re lemons,” said Burke. “These were defective beyond delivery and someone is responsible.”

October 7th’s hour-and-twenty minute oral arguments focused not on any factual disputes, but primarily arcane and esoteric interpretations of liability and warranty law. It will be sometime before Judge Philip Pallenberg issues an opinion.

The Juneau Airport’s two-and-a-half-year terminal renovation project is coming to a close – a year later than expected and more than a million dollars over the original price tag.

Airport Architect Catherine Fritz says all that’s left to do is to go through the final punch list and pay McGraw Custom Construction the final 90-thousand dollars of its contract.

The work ended up costing just under 11.2-million dollars, up from the original estimate of 10.1-million. Fritz says unforeseen conditions exposed during construction and design errors contributed to the increase. But the airport also requested additional work not included in the original plans. For example, renovation of the departure lounge.

“Because of the timeliness and the integral nature of other work in the departure lounge that was in the contract, we were able to use existing contractor and subcontractors to accomplish work that wasn’t originally in the scope,” says Fritz.

She says McGraw was able to utilize surplus materials, saving money on the departure lounge work.

Renovations began in May 2009 and included adding about 10-thousand square feet to the terminal building, modernizing the baggage claim area, and a new down escalator for passengers arriving at the airport. Fritz says a geothermal heat pump system installed during construction has already reduced operating costs.

“The energy efficiency improvements were significant, but we also modernized a lot of our facility for the convenience and expectation of travelers,” she says.

The City and Borough of Juneau owns the airport, so about half of the project was paid for with local sales tax revenue. The rest came from state and federal grants.

The old Basin Road trestle bridge will be rebuilt this winter.

Basin Road will be closed to vehicle traffic beginning Saturday (Oct. 1).

Pedestrians will still be able to access the popular area until October 26th. After that, access will be limited to certain hours, according to Larry Gamez, of Silver Bow Construction.

“Pedestrian access will be available across the bridge only between 12 and 1 p.m., that’s lunch, and 5 p.m. to 7 a.m.” Gamez says. “The Perseverance Trail systems will be accessible from the end of Evergreen Avenue via Flume Trail.”

The work is to be completed by mid-April.

Basin Road is the primary access to Last Chance Basin, Juneau’s water supply.

State Transportation Project Engineer John Kajdan says the old wooden bridge needs substantial reconstruction. A number of the old timbers are rotting and will be replaced.

The repair includes replacing the deck, updating the guard rail and much of the support structure under the bridge.

He says the Silver Bow Construction crews will work “bent-by-bent.”

“A bent consists of the timber columns and then the cap beam that sits on top of the column and supports the stringers which run lengthwise along the bridge and support the deck panels,” Kajdan says. “So they’ll pull up the deck and replace any stringers that have deteriorated and also be able to access the vertical columns, the diagonal cross bracing, and the horizontal cap beam that sits on top of the columns.”

The project will cost about $1.256 million, to be paid for by federal funds.

While the original Basin Road Trestle was built in 1936 during the AJ mining days, it’s been rebuilt a number of times since.

For a map of how to access the Perseverance Trail system, click here.

(Photos by Casey Kelly/KTOO)

Alaska’s Marine Highway System wants a court to order the fast-ferry builder to provide new engines for the ships.

State officials say engines on the Fairweather and Chenega are wearing out far faster than their warranties promised. Replacing the eight engines could cost in the range of $20 million.

The state filed a lawsuit last year, but continued talking to the manufacturer about a solution.

Captain Mike Neussl says the state is now asking the court for a preliminary injunction to force action before the engines wear out.

“If that happens, those vessels could be out of service before there’s an ultimate resolution. That would mean the state would lose use, and state residents and communities would lose use, of those vessels prior to the ultimate decision on that lawsuit,” he says.

He says quick action is needed because making new engines will take about a year.

The engines have already undergone repairs. Neussl says that has extended their operating life. But the repairs are not permanent.

The lawsuit and injunction motion are against Derecktor Shipyards, which build the ship, and subcontractors that built the engines. Derecktor officials could not be reached for immediate comment.

The injunction motion filed in Superior Court does not specify that new engines be built by the same manufacturer. But Neussl says that’s the likely solution.

“We have looked at alternatives, what other engines are out there that we could replace these engines with. And to be honest with you, there’s not any other diesel engines in the market place that meet the power-to-weight ratios that these engines have and would fit in the assigned space and have the correct weight to be used in these vessels,” he says.

The Fairweather, built in 2004, is based in Juneau and sails to Sitka and Petersburg. It’s scheduled to begin Angoon service next year. The Chenega, built in 2005, is based in Cordova and runs to Valdez and Whittier.

Dangerous highways, old bridges and the Alaska Class ferry top the Alaska Statewide Transportation Improvement Program over the next four years.

The STIP is Alaska’s list of priority state and local projects from 2012 through 2015 eligible for partial or full federal funding. The Federal Highway Administration requires all state transportation departments to put together a STIP.

Juneau projects include a new Brotherhood Bridge, a multi-use pathway between the bridge and the UAS campus, Egan Highway resurfacing, and a new outbound lane at the Salmon Creek and Egan intersection near Bartlett Regional Hospital.

This report outilines statewide priorities and funding issues.

(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.