Ferry follies continue

PALMER — Just days after it hit the papers in Alaska that the Mat-Su Borough was talking to the Marianas Islands about possibly handing over its controversial ferry, politicians in that island nation expressed bafflement.

“If it were not for media reports about the $80 million ferry, we might not even know there were communications about it. Who knows, it may still continue later on,” Rep. Janet Maratita of Saipan was quoted saying in a report in the Saipan Tribune.

In a report Dec. 3 that relied in part on Alaska media reports, the newspaper quotes the administration of the territory’s governor, Benigno Fitial, as saying that the M/V Susitna is apparently — at least at this time — not in its future.

“The Fitial administration said during the weekend it informed the vessel owner that the Commonwealth is ‘not interested in this matter’ because of the need for ‘thorough’ and ‘complete’ review, days after U.S. media outlets carried a story that the ferry may finally get a job in the tropics,” the Saipan Tribune reported.

But that’s not exactly the final word.

Later on in the reporting, the story said Fitial wants to study the matter and could, if those studies show the M/V Susitna is the best option, the Marianas could decide to pick it up.

On this side of the Pacific, the borough’s point man on the ferry, Emerson Krueger, said the deal is not dead, but is just on hold.

“It doesn’t rule out using the M/V Susitna, it’s just that they want to get a better handle on the ferry industry and how it could suit the needs that they have, which is responsible. That’s what they should do,” Krueger said.

Krueger said Fitial had been gung-ho about the ferry, authorizing a broker to move ahead and obtain it for the commonwealth. They’d gone so far as to figure out what they would need to charge for runs between various islands in the area.

It’s not hard to see why the ferry would be attractive — the Federal Transit Administration could help foot the costs of setting up the system and the boat itself is state-of-the-art and, while it cost the U.S. Navy $80 million to build, was free to the borough and would be free to the Marianas.

There was concern that its ice-breaking capabilities would make it too heavy and impractical for the tropics.

Speaking of ice — it’s about here in the story that the ice under Fitial’s feet starts to get thin. News accounts of the ferry deal in the Saipan press didn’t waste much time getting to the heart of the matter: a $190 million handshake agreement Fitial made to buy electricity from folks who were to generate it with diesel fuel. The agreement came to light as ferry talks were ongoing, and it did not go well for Fitial.

“He’s received a lot of scrutiny for that,” Krueger said. “And then there was an effort to impeach him that failed.”

In the wake of that, Krueger said, the Fitial administration has taken a much more cautious stance, pulling back from its previous full-steam-ahead approach and instead opting to study the ferry idea.

Krueger, who has been paying attention to news reports out of the Marians, said that a minority faction in the commonwealth’s Legislature led the impeachment process. Since the last election, though, that minority has become a super majority.

“Now there’s another effort to impeach him under way,” Krueger said. “On the face of it, he’s not going to be the governor much longer. I don’t have any direct information on that, but that’s what it reads like in their newspapers.”

So bad news for the borough, right? Maybe not.

You see, the super majority, if impeachment goes according to plan, will install its own governor.

“One of the leaders of the super majority is also interested in the M/V Susitna,” Krueger said.

Meanwhile, the borough continues to explore all options for what to do with the ferry. The Marianas deal, it seems, is both the most promising and the most colorful of those options. Or, in Krueger’s words, “it’s a sinuous path with a lot of strange signs along it.”

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.