A rockslide early Thursday, June 23, closed the cruise ship dock in Skagway (Alaska), prompting one boat to skip the port altogether.
Jacqui Taylor, a spokeswoman for dock owners White Pass & Yukon Route Railway, revealed that part of the cruise dock had been damaged during the slide just before 6:30 am local time.
No one had been injured as "the slide sent rock, dirt and vegetation tumbling from a mountainside above the dock."
At the time of the accident, there had been no passengers disembarking, Taylor said. The dock remained closed to passenger/vehicle traffic on Friday, June 24, to allow further assessment by the geotechnical engineers of the railway.
4 cruise ships scheduled for using the pier changed plans, the company said. The RCI-Royal Caribbean's liner Quantum of the Seas diverted from Skagway Thursday morning.
Princess Cruises' liner Discovery Princess was repositioned and planned to transport guests to the small-boat harbor by the ship's tender boats.
About a dozen liners use the dock every week to visit Skagway City - famous for its historic buildings and also part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. The railroad runs vintage locomotives from Skagway.
3 more vessels were booked to use other docks/tenders on Friday.
According to Taylor, White Pass and Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska were working with their cruise partners to re-accommodate the ships scheduled for the weekend.
“Ships are able to tie up on the south end of the Railroad Dock and tender guests a short distance to Skagway’s Small Boat Harbor.”
The Municipality of Skagway Borough doesn't own the dock and wasn't participating in the response to the slide as of Thursday, borough manager Brad Ryan said.