The Alaska Ferry System

As we watched from dockside in Homer, an Alaska ferry loaded passengers and vehicles. The Alaska ferry system provides passenger and freight service up and down the peninsula. In fact, it goes as far south as Bellingham, WA, and north to Anchorage. For many communi- ties on the Alaska peninsula, this is the primary means of getting from place to place since many of these towns are not connected by roads. 

The ferries we rode in Washington between the San Juan Islands and the mainland, loaded vehicles over the front or the rear of the vessel. The process of loading vehicles through a side port and lowering them to the cargo hold on a hoist was interesting. Full size semi trailers were pulled into the bay by a yard tractor, which is apparently able to turn the trailers and back them into position in the hold. 

After the loading was complete, the ramp was raised and retracted into the ferry, the deck railings were dropped into position across the opening, and a large roll-up door was lowered to cover the entire loading port.