The ferry, Susitna, championed by former Senator Ted Stevens, is finished but still without a port to call home.

The high-speed ferry that began as a prototype of a military assault transport, but was rejected by the Navy, was constructed with monies appropriated by the Senate Appropriations committee when it was chaired by Senator Stevens.

The design for the ferry came from the world’s largest defense contractor, Lockheed Martin. After the Navy rejected their proposal, Lockheed pitched their ferry idea to the Mat-Su borough. The borough paid Lockheed $2 million to design the ship.

With a combined total of $70 million dollars earmarked by Stevens for the ferry, the Navy was directed to build the ferry. Using a virtually unknown type of agreement, called an “other transaction authority,” that exempted the agreement from many of the federal contracting rules that require detailed cost justifications, the Office of Naval Research employed Alaska Ship and Drydock to construct the vessel.

Using $9 million in earmarked federal transportation monies, the facility was upgraded with a submersible ship lift to handle the large project. Less than a half a year before monies were given to Alaska Ship and Drydock by the Navy, Steven Silver, Senator Stevens former chief of Staff was hired by the company to lobby Washington for funds.

The ferry was originally envisioned to connect Port MacKenzie and Anchorage and would have turned a 2.5 hour drive into a short trip of 15 minutes. Although there are very few people employed at the Port, the ferry was a way to encourage development of the area. In fact, the former chief executive of VECO signed a letter of interest to open a manufacturing facility at the Port once the ferry was operational.

Now, years later, construction on the ferry is complete, but the twin-hulled vessel is still docked in Ketchikan.

Earlier in July, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly met and was given the newest estimates for monthly docking and associated fees for the unique ferry. They were told that the costs were running at about $67,000 each month, meaning a yearly cost of over $700,000 to keep the ferry where it is currently berthed. In addition, it would cost the Borough another $125,000 just to bring the ferry from Ketchikan to Port MacKenzie.

Port Panel member Dave Cruz said that the Mat-Su Port Commission voted unanimously for the Borough to bring the ferry to the Mat-Su. But, once the ferry is brought to the borough or the port, where would it be put. There are no facilities to dock a ferry of the ferry’s design.

Ideas were aired to beach the craft until a plan could be implemented, whether that be the use or sale of the vessel. But, according to the ship’s designer, beaching the craft would cause irreparable damage to the ferry, possibly making the vessel unusable when it is re-launched.

The 195-foot Traktor Jet enabled vessel, if put into use, can accomodate 20 standard size vehicles and 114 passengers, and cruise at 17 knots.