Alaska Marine Highway ferry Tustumena returns to service

AMHS Ferry Tustumena in Homer
The Tustumena docked in Homer in 2009. (Creative Commons photo by Isaac Wedin)

Updated | 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 17

After 75-days in the shipyard, southwest Alaska’s ferry is finally back in the water.

The M/V Tustumena returned to service this week following repairs that canceled 70 percent of its summer sailings.

While the vessel gets underway, funds for its replacement aren’t far behind.

The Alaska Legislature approved the money to replace the 53-year-old ferry, according to Aurah Landau of the Alaska Marine Highway.

“This allows the work to start, and takes what we know the system needs and the communities need and makes it into a physical reality of a boat that can come up and down the Chain,” Landau said.

The cost of building a new vessel is $244 million. The federal government will cover the bulk of that, while the state pays for 10 percent.

Landau said the Marine Highway wants to open the project to construction bids by next winter and have the new ferry ready within five years.

Until then, the Tustumena will make three trips over the remainder of this season. It’s scheduled to arrive in Unalaska on August 26.

Berett Wilber, KUCB-Unalaska

Original post | 11:14 a.m. Aug. 11

KODIAK, Alaska — An Alaska marine highway ferry is ready to hit the water again after wasted steel found in a routine overhaul took it out of commission in March.

The Kodiak Daily Mirror reports the Tustumena will leave the Ketchikan shipyard on or around Friday. The ferry is expected to make its first stop in Kodiak on Wednesday.

It is one of two Alaska Marine Highway System ferries serving Kodiak.

Marine Highway System public information officer Aurah Landau says the Tustumena’s repairs to steel in the car deck and engine room should last until its replacement is completed in about four years.

Officials are planning to schedule the Kennicott ferry in the spring to make sure island communities are taken care of, regardless of the Tustumena’s status.

— The Associated Press

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