The Alaska Department of Transportation has awarded a $350 million contract to a marine construction company in Louisiana to build the long-awaited replacement for the 62-year-old state ferry Tustumena, which serves communities on the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands.

Under the contract with Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors, the state expects the new ferry will be completed in 2030, said Alaska Marine Highway System spokesperson Gabe Strong.

The ship will be 330 feet long with the capacity to hold 58 vehicles and 250 passengers, 24 more cars and 90 more passengers than the Tustumena.

It will feature a hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system for better fuel efficiency and lower emission rates, plus a specialized vehicle elevator system to cater to extreme tidal ranges in Southcentral and Aleutian ports, according to a press release by the ferry system.

The new vessel will operate on the same route that the Tustumena currently runs, stopping in Homer, Seldovia, Kodiak, Old Harbor, Ouzinkie, Chignik, Sand Point, King Cove, Cold Bay, False Pass, Akutan and Dutch Harbor, connecting Southcentral Alaska to the Alaska Peninsula and the eastern Aleutians.

Strong said the new ferry will be better equipped to handle large swells on the ocean.

A previous bidding process for construction of the vessel in 2022 received no bidders. The project was put out to bid again in January of this year, and the bidding deadline was extended from May until June.

On June 30, the state Department of Transportation announced that Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors was the apparent low-bidder on the project with a price of $349.99 million. Thoma-Sea was the only company with an active bid.

According to Strong, one of the things that led to delays in issuing the contract was that the vessel is required to have at least a 70% compliance rate with federal Buy America Act rules, meaning a majority of the materials used in building the ship must be American made. This requirement is one of the things that drove away potential bidders in the early stages.

A large amount of the funding for the project comes from the Biden-era federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

According to Strong, individuals from within Thoma-Sea and the state had an initial meeting on Nov. 6 in Louisiana to start the project.

To decide on a name for the new ship, the state will run a contest for children between sixth and 12th grade, inviting ideas for names. The contest will be posted on the ferry system website. In accordance with state law, students must pick a glacier to name the vessel after and explain why they think the name suits the ferry.

There are currently no plans for what will happen with the Tustumena after it retires, but Strong said there has been discussion of a number of options, including the idea of turning it into a floating museum of sorts to document the history of the vessel, which began operating in 1964.