Alaska Marine Highway System prepares to sell ferry Taku

KETCHIKAN, Alaska – The Alaska Marine Highway System is working to get rid of the state ferry Taku.

Alaska Department of Transportation spokesman Jeremy Woodrow said the state has not yet decided how it will dispose of the ferry, but it has received permission from the Federal Highway Administration to sell the vessel, The Ketchikan Daily News reported.

Federal approval was required because of the millions of dollars of federal cash invested in the Taku throughout its lifetime.

“The next step is offering it to other state agencies or municipalities who may want the vessel,” Woodrow said. “If there are no takers, then it will be opened to a public sale.”

Taku has been moored in Ketchikan for more than a year. The mainliner has been appraised by the state as both a vessel and scrap, but its value won’t be disclosed until after the sale.

Any revenue from the sale would go to the ferry system’s vessel replacement fund or the state’s general fund, Woodrow said.

The last time the highway system sold a ferry, the agency put it up for auction on eBay. All Alaskan Seafoods owner Lloyd Cannon paid the state $389,500 for a 193-foot-long vessel named Bartlett that he later donated to the Seattle Maritime Academy.