Alaska ferry Malaspina sold for second life as a floating museum in Ketchikan

JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – One among Alaska’s unique ferries has been formally bought, and it’s now set to get a second life as a floating museum just a few miles outdoors of Ketchikan.

The M/V Malaspina, which got here into service in 1963, has been sitting idle for shut to a few years. The state of Alaska has been paying $450,000 a yr since then to retailer and keep the ship.

On Wednesday, businessman John Binkley formally purchased the ferry for $128,250. He mentioned the Malaspina will likely be reborn as a museum with a deliberate assortment of memorabilia.

“Actually to protect historical past, to have fun the women and men who’ve for many years served Alaskans as crewmembers on the Alaska Marine Freeway System,” Binkley added.

There’s additionally a plan to make use of the ferry for employee housing and to assist prepare future mariners. However Binkley says it’s “daunting” how a lot work will have to be carried out earlier than the ferry opens to the general public, which he hopes will occur subsequent spring or summer season.

The ferry’s paint is peeling, it’s streaked with rust, and pipes have burst inside. Binkley says it should take “tender loving care” to get {the electrical} and water methods working once more for friends. When requested how a lot it may cost a little to revive, Binkley mentioned, “I don’t need to know,” whereas laughing.

The Alaska Division of Transportation & Public Amenities says it has bought 5 state ferries up to now 20 years. The M/V Taku was scrapped in 2018 and two of Alaska’s quick ferries have been bought final yr, crusing throughout the Atlantic Ocean for a second life in Spain.

The Malaspina, recognized affectionately as “The Queen of the Fleet,” was taken out of service in 2019. There have been estimates it might price upwards of $70 million to get it crusing once more.

The state had supplied to present the Malaspina to the Philippines authorities at no cost, and there have been discussions about scuttling it to save lots of on storage prices. Its second life as a museum is being pitched as a manner “to protect her legacy.”

”As the previous Queen of the Fleet, and first mainline vessel constructed, we didn’t need simply any future for the Malaspina, and we definitely didn’t need her bought for scrap metallic. This provides her a retirement we could be happy with,” mentioned Capt. John Falvey, common supervisor of the Alaska Marine Freeway System, by means of a ready assertion.

Binkley is head of the Ward Cove Group, which manages a brand new cruise ship complicated seven miles outdoors of Ketchikan on the location of an previous logging mill. The guests heart will welcome tens of hundreds of cruise ship passengers every year.

Guests are set to study in regards to the Tongass Nationwide Forest and the area’s historical past of logging. Quickly, cruise ship passengers, college youngsters and Alaskans normally, will be capable of come and study extra in regards to the Alaska Marine Freeway System.

“Let’s preserve our historical past right here, and let’s have fun it,” Binkley mentioned. “It’s a improbable historical past that we’ve, and an exquisite transportation system. And so many individuals in different components of Alaska don’t even learn about it, what it means to coastal Alaska.

“And the way laborious these folks on these ferries labored daily to serve Alaskans, and we need to have fun that, we need to spotlight that, and actually pay honor to them, and the entire transportation system that we depend on down right here in Southeast.”

Copyright 2022 KTUU. All rights reserved.