Skift Take
Federal government earmarks? For Alaska? Impossible. We hope the ferry eventually finds a home -- somewhere -- taking visitors and locals from one dock to another.
One $80 million ice-breaking ferry, one $751,000 bid to buy it.
The Matanuska-Sustina Borough, trying to rid itself of the novel ferry it once embraced but has never used, received just a single bid by the noon Friday deadline. It doesn't have to accept it.
The vessel was completed in 2011 and born out of a partnership between the borough, which wanted a ferry, and the Navy, which wanted a fast military landing craft. Named the Susitna, it was built as a Navy prototype that would be owned and operated by the borough. The project was funded mainly with Department of Defense earmarks wedged into the federal budget by then-U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens.
But the borough hasn't been able to get suitable docks or a workable business plan to operate it as a ferry between Anchorage and Port MacKenzie in the Mat-Su.
With monthly costs to the borough averaging $75,000 for insurance, maintenance, fuel, docking fees and other expenses, the Borough Assembly has directed employees to find the most economical way to shed it.
While the borough solicited buyers, it also launched a parallel track to give away the boat to a government organization that met federal requirements.
