Tusty Re-Launch Pushed Back a Few Days

Jay Barrett/KMXT
There is another delay with work on the State ferry Tustumena, but according to the Alaska Marine Highway office, it shouldn’t prevent the 50-year-old ship from returning to service on October 20th, as previously announced. The re-launching of the Tusty in Seward was tentatively scheduled for today (Friday).
In an e-mail this morning, ferry system spokesman Jeremy Woodrow said work continues to be done replacing undersized steel plating in the ship, and a few more welds have failed the latest round of testing. The new launch date has been moved to the middle of next week, with sea trials and other in-water work to follow. Woodrow said the return to service date shouldn’t be affected by this latest delay.
As we previously reported, the ferry Kennicott’s schedule has been revised, and it will serve Kodiak, Homer and Seldovia through October 17th.
However, the Kennicott must report for a Coast Guard-ordered mandatory annual overhaul in Ketchikan after that date.