M/V Susitna to sail off

WASILLA — The Mat-Su Borough is officially ferry-free.

Borough officials were in the final stages of selling the borough’s star-crossed M/V Susitna ferry Thursday morning, and transferred ownership just before noon, according to assemblyman Jim Sykes. About a week after successfully completing sea trials mandated by a sales agreement, the last disbursement of funds had been transferred to a third party for review Thursday, and officials were waiting for the final signed documents to be transmitted to deem the transfer to the Phillippine Red Cross officially completed. The sale would prevent for now additional moorage fees from being charged to the Mat-Su Borough. It also puts an apparent expiration date on the saga of the ferry that predates the tenures of most of the people ultimately responsible for selling it off.

While the sale is a landmark in a saga stretching back almost a decade — reporters used the term “long-awaited” to describe the boat as far back as 2008, and stories about planning for the ferry stretch back to at least 2003 — outstanding issues still remain, said borough manager John Moosey. Borough officials were still negotiating possible repayment of about $12 million in Federal Transit authority grants used to build a ferry terminal in the Point MacKenzie area and study landings on either side.

Officials were hesitant even to proclaim the deal finished, given the numerous twists and turns ferry saga, Moosey said.

“We sign a bunch of documents and pray,” he said.

Others were a little more generous with their celebration, like assemblyman Dan Mayfield.

“It sounds like propaganda, but I am super pleased for the taxpayers that we don’t have to pay $700,000 per year to moor the vessel and keep it upkept and wait for another buyer to potentially be still years down the road,” he said.

And officials still remained uncertain whether the ferry’s insurance company — Lloyd’s of London — would repay them for some portion of $1.12 million in repairs sustained during heavy rain damage in Ketchikan in 2015, and exacerbated when maintenance personnel inadvertently ran rain water through the vessel’s diesel engines.

Mayfield said he and the marine surveyor tasked with evaluating the situation for the insurance company agree that the borough acted prudently once damage to the engines had been discovered.

“I’m fairly optimistic that we will prevail,” he said.

And borough officials still hadn’t ruled out a lawsuit, Mayfield said.

“It’s not my first choice,” he said. “I would much rather work cooperatively with the insurance company to make sure they see the facts as they are.”

And the estimated $1.75 million cost will not cover at least $2 million in accumulated fees since the approximately $70-million boat was delivered to borough officials in 2010.

Former borough assembly member Ron Arvin’s familiarity with the ferry dates back to his tenure on the borough port commission. The ferry was doomed from the design phase, Arvin said, because the ship had to be shrunk in order to allow it to survive the heavy ice it was likely to encounter in the Cook Inlet, which likely would have made it economically unfeasible. Then a change in the Anchorage mayoralty led to a decision against a landing on the Anchorage side, meaning the ferry didn’t have a purpose. Officials next tried to sell the ferry for years, only for the deals to fall apart before they could be completed. Possible uses evaporated.

Arvin compared the deal to the title of a popular series of children’s books.

“I think that there was a series of unfortunate events,” he said. “But it started with those that cut the deal, because they didn’t ask the right questions.”

Darcy Salmon was borough mayor at the time of the sale.

Even so, Arvin said the ferry’s imminent departure should trump anger over its acquisition.

“I’m kind of predisposed in my pure joy at seeing the thing leaving, and to kind of browbeat people about what they did way back when probably isn’t healthy,” he said.

Moosey said he was inclined to examine the silver lining in the deal. The ship was among the largest and most complex constructed in the Ketchikan shipyards, which now routinely construct larger ships.

“Ketchikan built a shipping industry on the back of this boat,” he said.

And the Phillippine Red Cross would ultimately use the Susitna to save lives, Moosey said.

“At the end of the day, the Phillippine Red Cross wants this for typhoon and emergency management and to save lives, which is a great ending to the story,” he said.

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.