Inter-Island Ferry Schedules 2026

The Inter-Island Ferry Authority runs one crossing in southeast Alaska: Hollis to Ketchikan and back, three hours each way, once a day in each direction.

Out at 08:00, back at 15:30

The boat leaves Hollis on Prince of Wales Island at 08:00 and returns from Ketchikan at 15:30, both timetabled at 180 minutes. One sailing each way means the vessel crosses, waits, and crosses back — and it means a day trip in either direction is possible but tightly constrained.

Prince of Wales Island has roads but no bridge

The island is large and has a road network of its own, including paved highway, but nothing connects it to the mainland. Everything that arrives — vehicles, freight, people — comes by water or air. That is why a three-hour crossing supports a scheduled daily service to a place most people have never heard of.

Ketchikan is the connection point

Ketchikan is where the ferry meets the wider network: the Alaska Marine Highway, the airport, and the flights south. For residents of Prince of Wales Island this crossing is the first leg of nearly every journey out, which is why the timing favours arriving in Ketchikan in the late morning rather than the evening.

One sailing a day removes the margin

There is no later boat. A missed 15:30 from Ketchikan means an unplanned night on the mainland, and a cancelled sailing means the same in reverse. In southeast Alaska, where weather closes both boats and small aircraft, that is a real planning constraint rather than a theoretical one.

An authority, not a private line

The service is run by a public ferry authority rather than a commercial operator, which is the usual arrangement for lifeline routes of this kind. It means the crossing exists because the communities need it, not because it clears a commercial return — and that it is more exposed to funding decisions than to market ones.