The Alaska Marine Highway System canceled plans to replace controllable-pitch propellers aboard the state ferry Columbia next year, opting to keep the 52-year-old ship in service until a replacement vessel is built.

The propulsion system project was estimated in 2022 to cost as much as $20 million.

The largest vessel in the fleet, Columbia serves the ferry system’s longest and most heavily traveled route between Bellingham, Wash., and Southeast Alaska. The ship was scheduled to head into a shipyard for much of next year for the controllable-pitch propellers project.

State ferry system marine director Craig Tornga provided a status update Feb. 11 at the Southeast Conference midwinter meeting of community and business leaders.

“We are confident we can maintain that,” he said of keeping the Columbia in service.

The ferry system conducted “an extensive analysis” of the ship and feels confident it can continue running until a new ship is built, Tornga said.

The state has money for design work for a new mainline ferry — and anticipates going out for bids on the design work this year — but does not have funding to build the ship, he said. 

A new mainline ferry would cost several hundred million dollars and take several years to design and build.

The replacement cost for the 61-year-old Tustumena, which serves Gulf of Alaska communities, is estimated at more than $325 million. The replacement vessel has been in design for several years, with construction bids now scheduled for September after multiple delays.

A 2022 bidding round attracted no shipbuilders.

Tornga said construction could take 30 months, putting an in-service date well into 2028.

The Columbia has had problems in the past with its controllable-pitch propellers system, which allows for increased maneuverability. The state went out for bids in 2022 to replace the system but received no offers.

The Kennicott, the second-largest vessel in the fleet, is out of service all year for replacement of its generators, which pressed the Columbia into operation to take over the Bellingham-to-Alaska run.

The Columbia was taken out of service in 2019 to save money, returned to work in 2023 and then missed almost all of 2024 when it was in the shipyard for repairs, mostly replacement of rusted steel.

The ship’s original 40-year-old engines were replaced in 2014, but the work did not include the original controllable-pitch propellers.

The ferry spent most of 2024 in the shipyard to replace its firefighting water mains, Tornga said.

In addition to waiting for replacement ferries for the Tustumena and Columbia, the Alaska Marine Highway System will decide the fate of the Matanuska, built in 1963, which has been held out of service for more than two years. The ship needs a lot of new steel to replace rusted sections.

“I’ll just tell you, it’s a rotten ship … (with) a lot of wasted steel,” Tornga said.

“That is a decision point that we have to make,” Alaska Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson said at the Southeast Conference. The options are to spend millions to repair the ferry or sell or scrap the ship. 

The ferry system paid a contractor for what was essentially a full-body scan of the Matanuska last year to determine the extent of rusted steel. Tornga said the results of those tests will be announced at the Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board meeting in March.

He called the results of the scan “colorful.”

Rust is a common and frequent problem for the ships.

The LeConte, built in the 1970s, had been scheduled for 90 days in the shipyard this winter, but as of last week was at 150 days for work to replace rusted steel. 

“The car deck is well below minimum steel thickness,” Tornga said.“We know the challenges of the fleet every time we go into the shipyard.”