Washington State Ferries is low on vessels and crew. Nowhere is harder hit than the San Juan Islands where one in 20 trips were canceled this summer
||| FROM KNKX |||
San Juan Islanders are used to going to the mainland for doctors’ visits, though it often means spending often an eight-hour day traveling over for a 15-minute appointment.
Ferry cancellations can make that into as much as a 21-hour day, according to Dr. Stacie Nordrum. That’s why, as the islands’ only audiologist for the last 16 years, she takes the ferry to her patients. Some islands she can only get to once a month, so she packs her day with appointments and boards the ferry with her little folding trolley, filled to the brim with hearing aids and specialized tools.
Nordrum is one of many working people in the San Juans who rely on the ferry for their livelihoods. She’s created a list of everyone she’s gotten to know in line for a ferry: A propane delivery man, a chimney repairman, an electrician, a traveling physical therapist, an occupational therapist, two special education coordinators, a school psychologist, a garage door repairman, a septic specialist, a beer delivery man, nurses, hospice workers, caregivers, a couple accountants, a domestic violence support advocate, ministers, FedEx workers, county workers, veterinarians and a farrier.
All of these peoples’ work and lives were frequently disrupted this summer. The Washington State Ferry system canceled more than 1,100 sailings between mid-June and late September – the largest chunk of those on routes in the San Juan Islands.
Data from the state shows during this year’s summer season, one out of every 20 sailings to, or between, the islands was canceled. That’s more than a third of the 1,145 cancellations statewide, when San Juan ferry routes made up less than a fifth of overall scheduled sailings.
Washington State Ferries is down several boats. Due to some planned and unplanned maintenance, there are 15 vessels currently sailing. That’s the minimum needed to run reduced service, according to John Vezina, a director at the agency.
They’re also facing the same maritime labor shortage other states and nations are. Some workers have held off on their retirement; others have foregone vacations or days off to fill in.
They’re dealing with increasingly frustrated riders, Vezina said. On Oct. 13, two people were arrested in the Friday Harbor ferry line after allegedly spouting racial epithets and threatening to kill staff.
“We’ve had physical assaults lately,” Vezina said. “We have verbal assaults all the time.”
When ferries are canceled
One reason the San Juan Islands see the most cancellations: whereas islands down south usually have a few routes that simply go back and forth from the mainland, ferries here hopscotch from island to island. If the Anacortes to San Juan ferry is canceled, that could mean cascading cancellations of the San Juan to Shaw and Shaw to Orcas ferries as well.
They’re also among the few islands in the state where there are no highways off-island. When riders can’t afford private flights, each cancellation still means dozens of islanders are stranded on the mainland or an island.
Take a Wednesday in September, at the end of the summer sailing season, when Nordrum had a monthly trip to Lopez Island scheduled. She had a packed day that included fitting one man for free, refurbished hearing aids he wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise.
“I pull up, and (the ferry worker) just shakes her head, like ‘girl, I’m so sorry,'” Nordrum said.
The next day, her ferry trip to Orcas Island was also canceled. Two days later, she went to the mainland to watch her daughter’s soccer game, and on the way back, spent 10 hours in line at Anacortes ferry terminal, waiting for a vessel with room for her car to get home.
During that wait, she watched someone right in front of her cut the line and sneak onto a ship that was leaving. It was one of her neighbors, she said.
“That was the worst,” Nordrum said. “I feel victimized by the system and ineptitude, and then now I feel like a victim of my neighbor. That’s so awful.”
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WSF has 21 vessels.. One is being converted to the new hybrid electrical propulsion system., so there are 20 “available.”
Normal summer operations pre-covid was 19 vessels. With the cancellation of the Anacortes-Sidney route until at least 2030, that means 18 operation vessels would bring the system back to summer normal less the one BC route. . Scheduled vessel required repair work and vessel inspections were generally scheduled in the slower months. of Oct-May. Ideally, there would be one “standby” ferry available because vessels are vessels … they are subject to mechanical issues caused by equipment, the environment they operate in, or occasional accidents.. But this summer, WSF has been operating only 15 vessels and occasionally trying for 16.
So why are there 4 boats in the summer months (not counting the electrical conversion vessel) supposedly in the ship overhaul/repair status?
The last available WSF ferry crew staffing report showed 92%+ full target staffing. Reportedly they have never been at 100% full target staffing, but the fact is they are only running 15-16 ferries … 3 or 4 fewer than pro-covid summer vessels, or about 79% (15 ferries) to 84% (16 ferries) of the usual summer runs.
So big picture statistics wise WSF is not short ferry crew members.
Some Vashon ferries are having two crews assigned to keep employees signed up for that route being paid. Not sure if that also applies to the Bremerton route and Coupeville-Port Townsend routes that are operating on single vessel schedules.
WSF is essentially mum on how many crew are assigned to the vessels not in service. Generally, the engine room crews would likely make sense to stay with the vessel if the work being performed is related to engine room equipment, But that’s about one third of the ferry crew . WSF generally says it’s complicated how many remain on the vessels undergoing shipyard work.
Likely the single greatest issue with the San Juan routes is not WSF staffing shortages … it’s where the workers live. Not enough in the Anacortes area, and too few on San Juan Island. And WSF still has the union’s seniority priority first up for replacements … a dispatcher’s nightmare of getting a quick replacement employee when a scheduled crew member has a conflict with the work schedule.
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All good points, Robert Dashiell. I may never get off island with my old cat to see his Anacortes vet again, the way things are going. I wonder how many people’s health will be irrevocably compromised by being unable to get off the islands. Thankful for mercy flights, but they don’t cover the rest of us with less life threatening issues.
I have one solution that is sure to raise hackles; (yes I know that many of the higher positions have ‘aged out’ and people retired, but many retired early or left with severance packages due to the vaccine mandates.) So my solution to crew shortages? Drop the mandatory c-19 vaccine policy; that one thing could solve a lot but if they really wanted to solve crew shortages – Rehire the unvaccinated workers that were fired -with full seniority and benefits and back pay. Hire new unvaccinated crew and start training them. Suddenly there would be enough crew AND seniority. Turns out, they weren’t the super spreaders everyone feared since the existing multi-vaccinated crew (many chose to vaccinate, but many also were forced to take the shots to have. or keep, their jobs) are still getting c-19 multiple times.
Bash me if you want; call me crazy – won’t hurt my feelings. It IS one solution. Better yet, rather than bashing a solution you don’t agree with is to post one of your own.