Wanted: Good Home for ‘Free’ Alaska Icebreaking Ferry

(Reuters) – Free to a good home: One high-powered, state-of-the-art icebreaking commuter ferry.

Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the local government for the region north of Anchorage, is seeking takers for a sophisticated vessel bestowed on it three years ago but which has never been put to its intended use.

The M/V Sustina, an $80-million, Navy-funded prototype, is docked 800 miles (1,285 km) southeast of the borough in Ketchikan, the city where it was built and christened.

The ship, obtained with the help of the late Senator Ted Stevens, was intended to be a precursor to the Knik Arm Bridge, a controversial project that would link Port Mackenzie, near Wasilla, to downtown Anchorage.

But dreams of shuttling Matanuska-Susitna commuters to Anchorage via ferry – a scheme that sought to cut a 75-mile (120-km) road trip down to a 2.5-mile (4-km) water crossing – were never realized. Landing facilities for the specialized craft were not built, and local officials said they don’t want to provide money for such a project.

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