M/V Tustumena Repairs Hit Additional Roadblock
Wednesday, July 10 2013
M/V Tustumena (Nancy Heise)
07/10 6pm: This story has been updated to reflect the cancellation of the July 23 and August 6 sailings.
The ferry Tustumena is delayed in shipyard yet again. The ship was scheduled to be back in the water on Monday, but a Coast Guard inspection revealed problems with some of the welding work on the ship’s hull.
Lieutenant Commander Dan Buchsbaum says Seward Ship’s Drydock will need to fix the deficiencies, and have the ferry inspected again. That involves bringing in a technician to x-ray the welds and make sure they’re solid.
Shipyard manager Pinkney Cunningham says the work and the inspection will probably keep the ferry in drydock for an additional two weeks. That just barely puts the ferry back in the water before its next scheduled run, on July 23. After being refloated, the ferry will still need to undergo stability and equipment testing.
But the state hasn’t canceled the ferry’s July sailing. Department of Transportation spokesperson Jeremy Woodrow says they’re still evaluating the situation.
“We’re working on a plan to see when the Tustumena will be ready," Woodrow says. "If it’s going to be ready for July 23, or if further time is going to be needed.”
The Tustumena has been in drydock since November. In February, the DOT realized that the ferry would need much more extensive work than originally planned. Since then, the launch date has been pushed back three times. The Kennicott picked up some of the Tustumena's scheduled runs in April and May, but there’s been no ferry service to the Aleutians since then.
KMXT's Jay Barrett contributed reporting for this story.
Tom Pogson on Tuesday, July 23 2013:
The governor's penny pinching has secured a not so minor economic crisis in southwestern Alaska by delaying the building of a new ferry to replace the Trusty Tusty. It's clear he doesn't think he needs the votes of the citizens of Kodiak, or the Alaska Peninsula or Aleutian chain communities to get re-elected. Great, the king of Juneau, Anchorage and the Matanuska Valley rules the state !! What an incredible dereliction of duty by the highest elected official in the State and his minions at AKDOT. Why did they think the shipyard in Seward rather than the normal trip to Portland would work well? These are the Alaska State government genuises at their best, right? Or did they expect and hope that if the Alaska ferry system faltered in southwestern Alaska that the value of their Alaska Airlines stock holdings would rise? Thank you AKDOT and Governor Parnell, we are entirely grateful to have your service.