||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS |||
San Juan County is thrilled to announce that Washington State Ferry (WSF) officials are taking concrete steps to ensure consistent interisland service during the week of the County Fair. From August 14-18, islanders will be able to confidently use the interisland route to travel to and from San Juan Island to participate and enjoy this yearly community celebration.
“I know I speak for all of the Council when I say how grateful I am for the creative problem solving and strategic planning that WSF is doing on behalf of our fairgoers, livestock, and vendors,” said Council Chair Jane Fuller. “This is our largest County event of the year, and all islanders and visitors should get the chance to attend, participate, and enjoy this special 100-year anniversary.”
John Vezina, the Director of Planning, Customer, and Government Relations for WSF, shared via email that WSF has “developed an action plan for next week we hope that ensures, to the best of our abilities, to keep the Interisland operating.”
Beginning on Wednesday, August 14, the day before the County Fair begins, through the duration of it, WSF plans to:
- Over-crew the Tillikum
- Add one Ordinary-sailor and one Able-bodied sailor (Deck) on each of the vessel’s shifts
- Add one Oiler (Engine Room) from 8.30am until 8.30pm
- Reserve three rooms in Friday Harbor to ensure Interisland employees are available for service
- Two rooms for Deck crew from Wednesday, August 14 through Saturday, August 17 (checking out on the 18th)
- One room of Engine Room crew from Wednesday, August 14 through Monday, August 19 (checking out the 20th) to align with engine room scheduling
- Utilize Kenmore Air in the event crews need to be flown to the San Juans from down sound
- Coordinate with Paraclete Charters to have a vessel on standby to shuttle Deck and/or Engine Room crews to/from Anacortes and Friday Harbor
- Coordinate extra staffing for terminals for the weekend
- Work with SJC Fair staff regarding trailers and vessel capacity needs
The Anacortes terminal supervisor will also communicate any service changes to island terminals and will update WSF Watch Center Supervisors and Operations. They will also prepare a backup schedule to ensure continuity of service if, despite the efforts above, the Tillikum is out of service.
While WSF noted that they don’t have the resources to schedule these measures every weekend, Vezina wrote, “This was a group of committed professionals thinking outside the box on ways to ensure our San Juan Island customers and their livestock – can travel with confidence next weekend.”
The County and WSF would like to thank the Earthbox Inn for helping to secure crew accommodations, SJC Fair staff for their tireless preparations of the grounds, and the countless volunteers who donate their time, skills, and creativity to make the Fair possible.
Learn all about this year’s County Fair, ‘A century of growing: 100 years at home,’ online at: https://www.sjcfair.org/.
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Now this is something positive for the ferries.
While I completely appreciate and even laud WSF for taking the step of “overcrewing” the vessel, I am a bit confused. I believe we’ve been consistently told by the WSF leadership that they aren’t legally allowed to overcrew, even if money is available. For example, in the scenario where the WSF has been allocated a fixed annual crewing budget — but had some cancelled sailings (which save incremental dollars), we’ve asked if we can use those extra incremental dollars to overcrew at other critical times, and, if I recall correctly, have been told by Hadley and others that wasn’t a legally permissible option.
So, it’s great that we can do this now, but what’s changed? Is this an example/precedent that we can replicate at other critical or high-traffic times?
The Coast Guard sets the minimum permissible licensed crew requirements for a vessel to sail. There is no maximum associated with that, only a minimum. Unless there is some legislative cap or MOU (which should not be legal with the CBA’s if it were the case) with the ferries that I’m unaware of, there is nothing illegal about having more available crew or even on-board crew than the Coast Guard minimum.
An example where the ferries have excess crew aboard on a regular basis is when a crew member is “breaking in”. Example: a licensed engineer is moving to a different vessel class and hasn’t yet been broken in on that class of vessel. Prior to being able to take their position on a shift, they must be broken in to that class or unique plant within that class. Typically this can take a work week (7 days) or more, depending. He or she must be broken in by a qualified “like” engineer by learning and passing certain pertinent tasks and competencies. When someone is being broken in, they are paid as an additional engineer on that shift.
It’s long been my belief that they just don’t want to pay to have additional crew with additional benefits and have always kept the bare minimum. Now they can’t keep that. Glad to hear they’re attempting to plan. That’s a good first step.
Just a gentle chuckle…It would appear that a woolly ram, a huge tuber and a herd o f teens are able to work miracles of guaranteed transport that have eluded taxpaying octogenarians, a non-sporting breed, who only have hopes of honorable mention in the schedule priorities.
Yes, this latest WSF effort is appreciated, but also deserves a raised eyebrow…
Well stated Milly!
eyebrows raised, smile on face. Good point!
While we may be appreciative of WSF’s largesse to ensure inter-island service during the county fair, what about all of whose lives have been messed with because of ongoing delays and cancellations of mainline boats? Just this week, the Yakima has set a new (dubious) record–it ran one hour and forty minutes late one evening. The online Vessel Watch is totally incapable of keeping up with the chaos, the reservations system has been shut down in several instances and waiting times both in Anacortes and here in the islands have sometimes exceeded five hours due to backups from cancelled trips.
So, while WSF’s commitment to keep the Tilikum afloat during the fair is admirable, it seems to me somewhat over the top. We would appreciate the same level of effort expended on our links with the mainland.