Borough Assembly votes to keep new ferry in Ketchikan this winter

Mat-Su Assembly members unanimously decided Wednesday to dock the ferry in Southeast, although Mat-Su Borough Manager John Duffy said it is possible to winter the vessel at the borough's Port MacKenzie.

Possible but not ideal, Duffy said. The Ketchikan docks are better set up to meet the ferry's needs for now, with inexpensive power and on-site fuel.

Borough officials are looking into hiring out the ferry over the winter. Possibilities include sending it to the Gulf of Mexico to assist in oil cleanup or conscripting it into temporary service for the Alaska Marine Highway System to substitute while a state ferry is in for repairs.

The $70 million, 195-foot ferry was launched last month and is undergoing sea trials in Ketchikan until early fall.

The borough intends to sail it between Port MacKenzie and Anchorage, but it has no permanent spot to dock in Anchorage or Mat-Su.

"If the docks were in today, the ferry would be coming here in September and it would be going. That's the big issue: There's nowhere to park it," said Assemblyman Ron Arvin, who made the motion to dock it in Ketchikan.

Mat-Su Borough Finance Director Tammy Clayton said wintering the ferry in Southeast will save the borough about $200,000, mostly in fuel and insurance costs.

The ferry is an experimental craft designed to allow troops to land and offload equipment without a dock. Dubbed the E-Craft by the Office of Naval Research, which paid for it, the catamaran-style vessel has twin ice-breaking hulls and, in the middle, a barge deck that can be raised and lowered.

After the vessel is outfitted, the Navy will conduct four to six weeks of drills, the borough said.

Duffy said the borough has always planned to keep the ferry out of Cook Inlet if it was finished in fall.

Seas are higher in the fall and winter and making the Gulf of Alaska crossing then could reduce the useful life of the vessel, he said. The borough wants to make that crossing and begin passenger service in milder weather, he said.

Meantime the borough is still working to find the right spot for the ferry to dock on the Anchorage side of Knik Arm.

A landing at Port MacKenzie is designed and permitted but not built. The borough needs about $42 million to build both. It has $6 million in hand.

That might not block passenger service, however. Duffy said the borough plans to offer walk-on passenger service at existing facilities on both sides of the Arm. The ferry would be unable to carry vehicles until a permanent dock is found, he said, but at least some service could begin next year.