AMHS

The MV Tustumena turned 60 years old this year. She’s the oldest ferry in the Alaska Marine Highway System and she just completed her final Aleutian Chain run of the year. In August, Unalaskans met her at the port to celebrate the "Trusty Tusty’s" birthday. KUCB’s Theo Greenly was there — he rode the ferry down the chain to Homer, and he sends this audio postcard from the trip.

The Alaska Marine Highway System released a draft of the 2024 summer ferry schedule on Tuesday, proposing the same number of Aleutian Chain runs as the last two years.

$92 million of the grant will contribute to a project to replace the Tustumena. The “Rusty Tusty” is almost 60 years old. Its replacement will be the state’s first diesel-electric hybrid ferry. The state is required to match at least $23 million for this portion of the grant.

It’s official. The M/V Tustumena is finally being replaced. The over $200 million project was announced by Gov. Mike Dunleavy during a Saturday visit to Kodiak.

House Speaker Louise Stutes has appointed a former Unalaska mayor to a new ferry oversight board.Shirley Marquardt will be joining the nine-member Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board, which was established through the passage of House Bill 63 — introduced by Speaker Stutes last session.

The M/V Tustumena is now scheduled to arrive in Unalaska at 9:15 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 9, and to depart in the late afternoon. It is the last ferry scheduled to visit the island this year.

This summer is shaping up to be another quiet tourism season in Unalaska. While public health mandates and regulations loosen, things like reduced ferry…

Ports along the Aleutian Chain between Homer and Unalaska will see only five visits of the ferry Tustumena this summer, down from the twice-monthly…

The Alaska Marine Highway System will now require that all passengers (over the age of two) provide proof of a negative result from a COVID-19 test taken…

The Unalaska City Council adopted a new local COVID-19 mandate at its meeting June 9. The order is the same as the prior local order, except that it…