Ferry deal in sight?

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough says it is entertaining two offers for its ferry.

“We have had two offers, but they were via letter and email, and so we’re working with the more favorable of the two offers trying to get a contract that has not been formalized yet,” Mat-Su Borough Port Director Marc Van Dongen said Friday, before declining to go into more details about the offers. “The attorneys are still bouncing it back and forth changing language on it. If it goes through we’re looking at trying … have a final closing by the end of June.”

Even after the negotiations and once a contract is signed, there are a handful of places the deal could fall through, he said. The buyer has to inspect the vessel and run a sea trial, after either of which the buyer could back out.

“I expect by the middle of next week we may have a signed contract with a deposit,” Van Dongen said. “We are requiring a half-million-dollar deposit.”

The ferry, dubbed the M/V Susitna, has been waiting in Ketchikan for the borough to make a decision. It was built there as a military prototype of a so-called “littoral combat” vessel — one able to fight for the U.S. Navy in the areas close to shore. It’s capable of driving up on a beach to unload a tank.

The borough has converted it for civilian use for runs between the Port of Anchorage and Port MacKenzie. The idea was to use it as a commuter ferry. But the borough doesn’t have anywhere to dock it on either side.

There are other reasons the borough decided to sell the M/V Susitna, Van Dongen said.

“The vessel was downsized several times and now it doesn’t even hold enough vehicles for us to break even,” he said.

Also, “We lost Senator Stevens,” Van Dongen said, referring to the late Ted Stevens, one of the main backers of the ferry project. At around the same time Stevens lost his re-election bid and died in a plane crash, Congress did away with earmarks, which meant that Rep. Don Young also could not secure funding for the ferry.

“It’s a whole variety of things that caused the manager and the assembly to make the decision to either sell or transfer the vessel,” Van Dongen said.

Since the borough has begun the process of seeking a buyer, the ferry has been envisioned as playing a number of different roles. There was an idea to use it as a firefighting vessel in Southern California. The Marianas Islands considered it as a ferry between various islands. There’s been talk of donating it to a charitable group with projects in Africa and the Amazon. There was even an idea to use it as an offshore platform on which to grow cabbage.

“It is versatile. It’s an impressive vessel. I’ve been on it several times it’s very impressive (with its) capabilities, it just wasn’t going to work for us,” Van Dongen said.

Others have talked about keeping the vessel, of drydocking it at Port MacKenzie or of seeking out a partner to put it into service as a ferry.

Van Dongen says he continues to receive inquiries about the vessel, and talked to the Port of Portland on Friday.

“They’re interested in possibly using it for a suction dredge operation for their port,” Van Dongen said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270

or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.