After years of delays, the build contract to replace the Alaska Marine Highway System's ferry Tustumena is out to bid. The state's project notice calls for the new mainliner ferry to be completed by the beginning of 2029 with an estimated price tag of more than $300 million.
The new ferry will be a more efficient, diesel-electric vessel with capacity for 250 passengers and 58 cars at a time.
"It is really delightful, even just to talk about. You can probably hear the smile on my face," Louise Stutes said.
State Representative Stutes, a Republican from Kodiak, is a longtime advocate of the Alaska ferry system — especially the more-than-60-year-old Tustumena, which regularly sails from Homer to Kodiak Island communities.
She commended Craig Tornga, the head of the state ferry system, for getting the Tustumena replacement project to this point.
"There are several shipyards that are interested in it, as opposed to the first time it went out, where no shipyards were interested," she said.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy first announced the project in 2021. The initial build contract went out to bid in 2022, and no bids came in.
"So, they kind of had to reassess it, redesign a few things and we're good to go," Stutes said.
Tornga went back to the drawing board on the ferry's design and overhauled the contract over the last several years. Tornga has previously said that one of the hurdles that delayed the project so long was a requirement that 70% of the money spent on the Tustumena replacement has to go to American companies.
Bidding closes May 28, according to the state's public notice for the project.
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