unwanted Alaska ferry worth $80M

[Roverron]

PALMER, Alaska (AP) -- An unwanted, $80 million ice-breaking ferry owned by an Alaska borough has only one bid to buy it, and it's for $751,000.

The bid was the only entered by Friday's deadline set up by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, which has been trying to get rid of the 200-foot ferry. The borough doesn't have to accept the offer, The Anchorage Daily News reported (http://bit.ly/Zuh2SN).

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, the ferry 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 ns.

The borough has no suitable docks or a workable business plan to operate the vessel 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. Of those that expressed interest, proposals by Los Angeles County and the U.S. Virgin Islands are still being evaluated by the Federal Transit Administration.

On Friday, Russ Krafft, the borough purchasing officer, opened the sole bid, a $751,000 offer from Workships Contractors BV, based in The Netherlands. It wants to use the vessel to support offshore wind farms, according to the borough.
"I was expecting more offers and higher offers, even if it was just for scrapping the vessel," said Marc Van Dongen, the borough's port director.
The borough asked the state ferry system if it would want the Susitna. But in a new draft study, the ferry system concluded the Susitna would be expensive to run and that existing docks would need to be reconfigured.

The study said the boat can hold 134 passengers but only 20 vehicles, and burns 375 gallons of fuel an hour. A state ferry with a similar capacity, the Lituya, burns 55 gallons an hour. The state ferry system doesn't want the Susitna, the staff report said.
The vessel is docked near the Ketchikan shipyard where it was built.

The government of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, said it was interested in the Susitna but then seemed to back off. A community college in Seattle inquired about acquiring it to train merchant marines, but that's not a public transit purpose. A fledgling research laboratory in Wisconsin wants it, too. A village of Native Hawaiians sent representatives in an executive jet to Alaska to check out the boat, but federal officials told the borough that the village would have had to partner with the state. And that hasn't happened.

At least two governments are still on the list being considered by the Federal Transit Administration, the borough said.
Ultimately, the Borough Assembly will decide the Susitna's future.




Knik Arm ferry or Cook Inlet ferry, was a proposed year-round passenger and auto ferry across Knik Arm between Anchorage and Point MacKenzie in Alaska. The project was to use the M/V Susitna SWATH / barge convertible expedition craft, which was built for US$80,000,000, to connect Alaska's financial center with the fastest growing community in Alaska, just two miles across water. No ferry landings were ever built. The ship was never put into commission. Berthing it with crew, lease costs, fuel, etc. ran up to(US$90,000 per month) The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly did not want taxpayers to pay such costs. Mat-Su Borough offered to transfer the ferry for free to government entities in the U.S. in January 2013 or to sell the ship to a commercial interest. Sealed bids will be opened on March 29, 2013.

The ferry is a one-of-a-kind, ice-capable vessel that can transition from barge to twin-hulled ship, designed by Guido, Perla & Associates based on a concept by Lockheed-Martin Corporation for the Office of Naval Research as a half-sized prototype for a military vessel

"It's an omnivore. It's not optimized for any one task, but it has a wide range of tasks it can do, and that's what makes it useful. It can work in deep seas, it can work in rough waters, it can break ice, it can work in shallow waters and go up to the beach. There's no other ship in the world that can do that."

— Lew Madden, Susitna Co-inventor

http://news.yahoo.com/1-750k-bid-unw...231923120.html

[DrHenley]

M/V Susitna has its own web site:

http://www.matsugov.us/ferry/

The rear admiral from New York who convinced a small Alaska shipyard to build a never-been-done-before vessel told an appreciative crowd today that the M/V Susitna is what’s right about America: former Rear Admiral Jay Cohen, Office of Naval Research.

It has a cover story in Work Boat Magazine

http://www.matsugov.us/docman/doc_vi...ent&format=raw

[Roverron]

And now we bought an $80 million ship that can't be used and can't be sold for even a tenth of the cost! WTH thought this was a good deal?!?!

[US.45]

Originally Posted by Roverron

And now we bought an $80 million ship that can't be used and can't be sold for even a tenth of the cost! WTH thought this was a good deal?!?!

That's our representatives at their best; using our money to fund projects back home for their buddies! No wonder why we're in hock to our eyeballs.