Vigor Alaska dock master Rob Railey, left, and senior dock master of Alaska Greg Howe watch other Vigor workers reel the Alaska Marine Highway M/V Tustumena into dry dock on Thursday, March 17, 2016, at the Ketchikan shipyard. ©Ketchikan Daily News
A Vigor Alaska worker operates a skiff Thursday, March 17, 2016, as the Alaska Marine Highway M/V Tustumena is roped into a dry dock. Skiff operators can do a multitude of things, according to Vigor Alaska general manager Mike Pearson, from retrieving fallen lines to acting as a small tugboat on smaller ships. ©Ketchikan Daily News
Alaska Press Club 2016 3rd Place Photo Story
By Taylor Balkom
Boring dockings are the best dockings, according to Vigor Alaska dock master Rob Railey.
The Alaska Marine Highway System ferry Tustumena — known fondly as the Trusty Tusty — was uneventfully docked in Ketchikan Shipyard’s Drydock 1 on a foggy March 17 in preparation for the ferry’s annual maintenance.
The docking process took more than three hours — not including the time spent building and placing the blocks that support the ship in the drydock.
Railey said the blocks are laid out so that 85 percent of the total weight of the ship rests on the keel, a struc- tural strong point, while the other 15 percent of the weight sits on blocks farther out from the keel along the bottom of hull.
After the drydock was partially submerged in the water, a combination of tugboats, ropes and skiffs helped slowly guide the ship into place. Scuba divers with underwater equipment and communication devices can make blocking adjustments if neces- sary and relay information to the above-water workers, Railey said.
The Tustumena is the smallest ship in the AMHS fleet with cabins and weighs only 2,174 gross tons. The shipyard's Drydock 1 — constructed in the 1980s — can hold vessels weighing up to 9,600 tons.
Once the Tusty was in position over the blocks, control-room operators slowly drained ballast tanks inside the drydock to raise the ship out of the water.
While the Tustumena is undergoing repairs, the AMHS ferry Kennicott will take over its routes in Southwest Alaska.
