Federal grant of $310,307 funds condition survey of Alaska's ferry fleet

The federal government is putting $310,307 toward a survey of the Alaska Marine Highway System's vessels, updating what condition each one is in and what work it still needs. The survey prices that work, including what the Coast Guard and international safety rules require to keep each ship certified.

One of the ships it covers is the Tustumena, which has been carrying passengers since 1964. The state spent $9.4 million on it in 2022 to keep it running until a replacement arrives.

That replacement is now the state's most expensive open question. Alaska named Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors the apparent low bidder at just under $350 million, about $49 million more than the $301 million the state has programmed for it. It is the first major ferry procurement in more than a decade.

"That's a tired boat," Cordova Mayor Kristin Smith said of the Tustumena at a city council work session in August, and every dollar spent patching it, she said, is a dollar not set aside for maintenance or for the vessel after this one.

There is other money moving. In August the state announced more than $410 million in federal rural ferry awards, including $161.2 million for operations and $153.4 million to replace the M/V LeConte. The state's transportation plan also carries $37.5 million for safety improvements to the M/V Matanuska.