MV Tustumena

The M/V "Tustumena" is a mainline ferry vessel for the Alaska Marine Highway System.

The M/V "Tustumena" was constructed in 1963 in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and refurbished in 1969 in San Francisco. As the only mainline ferry in Southcentral Alaska and the Aleutian Chain, it principally runs between Kodiak, Seldovia, Port Lions, and Homer with Homer providing a road link to the other communities on the Kenai Peninsula (Seldovia) and the Kodiak Island area (Kodiak and Port Lions). The only interruptions from this schedule occur when making a voyage out the Aleutian Chain (the Aleutian Chain run consist of the communities of Akutan, Chignik, Cold Bay, False Pass, King Cove, Sand Point, and Unalaska/Dutch Harbor) which the vessel undergoes eight times a year all of which occur during the summer as winter weather becomes too dangerous. The M/V Tustumena will be in a shipyard for maintenance after November 7, 2008 and the M/V Kennicott will serve Homer and Kodiak for the entire winter season.

Trivia

*The "Tustumena"'s amenities include a full service dining room; cocktail lounge and bar; solarium; forward, aft, movie, and business lounges; eight four-berth cabins and 18 two-berth cabins.
*The "Tustumena" is the smallest AMHS vessel to have cabins.
*The "Tustumena" is replaced by the M/V "Kennicott" when it undergoes annual maintenance.
*Because of the exposed and volatile parts of Alaska it plies, the "Tustumena" is an accredited ocean-going vessel, a quality it shares exclusively with the "Kennicott".
*The large black structure on the aft portion of the vessel is a car elevator. It is used in all communities where there is not a dedicated ramp loading directly into the car deck. While the car elevator for the "Tustumena" is exposed on the exterior, the "Kennicott" car elevator is located inside the vessel.

External links

* [http://www.ferryalaska.com Official Alaska Marine Highway System website]