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Ketchikan: After Decades of Service, M/V Taku for Sale Through Sealed Bid - The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) announced Saturday it is selling the M/V Taku through a sealed bid sale. The minimum bid price is $1.5 million and interested bidders must have a bid bond of $5,000.

M/V Taku
Photo courtesy Alaska Department of Transportation

ADOT&PF is selling the vessel “As Is/Where Is” to the highest bidder. The vessel is currently at a mooring facility in Ward Cove in Ketchikan, Alaska.

The sale process involved getting Federal Highway Administration approval since federal funding was used to maintain the vessel over its lifespan.

Last month, ADOT&PF initiated proceedings to transfer ownership of the M/V Taku by offering it to other state agencies or municipalities. No public entity expressed an interest in assuming ownership of the M/V Taku.

Interested bidders have 60 days to submit bids, inspect the vessel if desired, and arrange financing if necessary. Sealed bids must be submitted by 3:00 p.m. Alaska Standard Time, on May 9, 2017. Again, the vessel is currently at a mooring facility in Ward Cove, approximately 6 miles north of Ketchikan. The complete bid package is available on the Alaska’s Online Public Notice website.

The M/V Taku was determined to be excess to the needs of the state for ferry vessels and outside the realm of what the state can afford to maintain and operate in passenger service with available funding. The vessel was constructed in 1963 and faithfully operated as a part of the Alaska Marine Highway System for over 50 years. The M/V Taku was taken out of service on June 23, 2015.

MV Taku is 352 feet long and 74 feet wide, with a domestic gross tonnage of 2,625 and a service speed of 16.5 knots. The MV Taku was designed to carry 350 passengers and has a vehicle capacity of 1,000 linear feet, which is equal to approximately 50 twenty-foot vehicles. There are 6 four-berth and 32 two-berth cabins, as well as 2 wheelchair-accessible cabins.

The MV Taku was named after the Taku Glacier, located in Southeast Alaska and named by the Tlingit Natives. The Taku Glacier is the deepest and thickest glacier known in the world and is the only advancing glacier in the Juneau Icefield.

The vessel was designed by Phillip F. Spaulding and Associates of Seattle, Washington and constructed at the Puget Sound Bridge & Dry Dock in Seattle in 1963. The M/V Taku was one of three sister ships that made up the original Alaska Marine Highway System's fleet, but unlike the other two, this vessel was not lengthened after construction. - More...
Monday AM - March 13, 2017

Southeast Alaska: Legislation Naming Two State Ferries Passes the Alaska Legislature; Goes to Governor - Legislation to officially name two new state ferries after the Alaska glaciers Tazlina and Hubbard passed the Alaska State Legislature on Friday. Senate Bill 33 was introduced on behalf of Alaska Governor Bill Walker. Earlier Friday, the bill unanimously passed the Alaska House of Representatives after unanimous support in the Alaska Senate on February 27th.

The ferries Tazlina and Hubbard are under construction at Vigor Alaska in Ketchikan and the first ferry will possibly come into service later this year -- 2018 was the proposed completion date of the first ferry. The ferries will be 280- feet long, seat up to 300 passengers and carry 53 standard vehicles. Each ferry will feature bow and stern doors for quicker loading and unloading, fully enclosed car decks and controllable pitch propellers to maximize maneuverability and efficiency.

“The process to name these two great additions to Alaska’s fleet of ferries shows Alaskans love of the natural environment and an appreciation for the creativity of our youth,” said Rep. Dan Ortiz (I-Ketchikan). “If you read the essays by Taylor Thompson and Malea Voran I think you will come to the same conclusion I did that these are fitting names for our newest state ferries. I can’t wait for my first ride later this year.”

“Our state ferries are a vital transportation link for many isolated communities and thousands of Alaskans. These new ferries will strengthen the Alaska Marine Highway System, which must be given the same importance by lawmakers as our vital roads and bridges,” said Rep. Sam Kito (D-Juneau). - More...
Monday AM - March 13, 2017

Alaska Science: Far-north mallards thrive on the edge By NED ROZELL - With dogs’ breath fogging the 30-below-zero air at their knees, 71 Iditarod mushers steamed their way down the frozen Chena River in Fairbanks on March 6. Upstream, just a few miles behind them, 500 ducks were surviving in a one-mile stretch of open water.

Marv Hassebroek of Fairbanks feeds overwintering ducks a mixture of cracked corn, wheat, and vitamin and mineral pellets.
Photo by Ned Rozell

You might think the mallards that did not migrate from the sub-Arctic in fall would be skinny and weak, but a University of Alaska Fairbanks graduate student found the ducks have the highest midwinter body mass of just about any mallards in North America. And the ducks improved in body condition since their brethren flew away.

Tim Spivey just defended his master’s thesis on the hundreds of mallards that spend winters in Anchorage and Fairbanks, unlike most of a half-million Alaska mallards that flew south months ago.

The mallard is the raven of the duck world, able to eat just about anything. Mallards have overwintered in Anchorage since at least 1975. There are now about 1,300 mallards there. The Fairbanks population of mallards has increased to about 500 overwintering ducks since people began feeding them in organized fashion.

Spivey found the body condition of Anchorage mallards declined from autumn to late winter. Fairbanks ducks, however, reached their highest body mass during November, December and January, the coldest months of the year.

Ducks live in the two cities all winter because of two key factors: There is open water in both places, and people feed them.

In Fairbanks, workers at the city’s main coal-fired power plant discharge equipment-cooling water into the Chena River, warming it enough that a mile-long section downstream does not freeze. Volunteers haul as many as eight 5-gallon buckets of corn and wheat to the riverbank each winter day to feed the ducks. - More...
Monday AM - March 13, 2017

Ketchikan Business: TFCU Holds 54th Annual Membership Meeting - Three board seats were filled during the Tongass Federal Credit Union's 54th annual membership meeting February 28 at the Ted Ferry Civic Center.

Re-elected to serve on the board were Justin Breese, a state fish biologist and Mike Cruise, a retired U.S. Forest Service employee; and elected for the first time Jennifer Etten, a local small business owner. Etten previously served on the TFCU Supervisory Committee. She replaces Larry Tillotson, who chose not to seek re-election. Tillotson, a retired teacher, completed eleven years on the board, serving as treasurer the past 9 years.

Board officers were elected at a meeting following the annual Membership meeting. Re-elected officers included Justin Breese, chair; Mark Tollfeldt, vice chair; and Mike Cruise, secretary. R. Todd Ranniger was elected treasurer.

Approximately 111 members plus joint accountholders and children attended the annual meeting. Betty Marksheffel, a charter member, was remembered at the meeting. She was a retired educator and a pioneer member and avid supporter of Tongass Federal Credit Union. Initially teachers and public employees qualified for membership. - More...
Monday AM - March 13, 2017

Ketchikan Conference: Ketchikan to host Alaska Wood Energy Conference - Registration is open for the Alaska Wood Energy Conference, which will meet April 11-12 in Ketchikan.

Conference organizer Karen Petersen of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service said the biennial conference will focus on how wood energy can help Alaska with its energy challenges.

Conference topics will include biomass harvesting and production, Canadian biomass projects and policies, carbon credits, air quality concerns and case studies of existing biomass operations. Optional activities will include tours of woody biomass operations in and around Ketchikan on April 10 and biomass-heated greenhouses on Prince of Wales Island on April 13. - More...
Monday AM - March 13, 2017

COLUMNS - COMMENTARY

One reason penny stocks are so risky is that as very small companies that have minimal or no capital, they are easy to manipulate. They have no track record, no earnings, little or no assets and often no prospects for earnings in the future. With no earnings and little or no assets, penny stocks do not have much of a market, making them very illiquid in many cases. If no one is buying or selling shares, an investor who wants to sell shares has no one to buy them. Illiquidity is a serious risk and common with penny stocks. In addition, all of the data about them is unproven and sometimes false. Investing in them is simply gambling. - More...
Monday AM - March 13, 2017

TOM PURCELL: We Can Use a Little Irish Humor Now - Thank goodness St. Patrick's Day is upon us. Our country is in need of some Irish humor about now.

With all the vitriol in our politics these days, we could use more brotherly love - which reminds me of the joke about McAlister.

One Saturday night, he ordered three pints at the pub. When the bartender asked him why he wanted three, McAlister explained: "I've got two brothers, one in America and one in Australia. Every Saturday night we go to our respective pubs, order three pints and drink with each other. Right now, me brothers are sipping three pints, too."

McAlister continued his tradition for several months. But one Saturday he ordered only two pints.

"Sweet goodness," said the bartender, "did one of your brothers die?"

"The brothers are fine," said McAlister. "It's just that I quit drinking."

Reports of alleged wiretapping and spying are all over the news of late. That reminds me of the one about a German spy who was sent to Ireland during World War II. - More...
Monday AM - March 13, 2017