WSF Weekly Report | New SJI spring schedule; crew commended for rescue

||| FROM STEVE NEVEY for WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES |||

A message from Steve

Deputy Assistant Secretary John Vezina and I presented to the Senate Transportation Committee on Monday. I shared our vision and workforce efforts. Over the past year, we focused on three strategic priorities: service excellence, improved communication and empowered people. These efforts are reinforced by our core values – serve, respect, grow, trust and navigate – which guide our decision making at every level. Thanks to this realignment and a thorough culture assessment based on employee feedback, we’ve already made improvements. These include better communication, accountability and engagement. I also detailed our new workforce development programs. These include tuition-paid training for non-licensed crew, apprenticeships and high school outreach. With about half of our chief engineers and captains eligible for retirement by 2029, we are also focused on knowledge transfer to keep operations running smoothly.

I also talked about expanding our fleet. Bids open next month for three prequalified shipbuilders to construct five 160-car hybrid-electric ferries.

John updated legislators on our fleet conversions and service restoration efforts. He highlighted the challenges and progress of transitioning our three largest vessels to hybrid-electric power. With Gov. Bob Ferguson’s direction to prioritize service restoration, we are delaying the next two conversions until after the 2026 World Cup. This decision allows us to restore key routes and improve service. John closed the presentation by explaining that challenges remain, but reliability is over 99%, on-time performance is improving and we are clearing our maintenance backlog.

John also explained how we have worked to be very transparent with our customers about service restoration since the pandemic. An update to our Service Contingency Plan is coming out soon.

By investing in our workers and fleet, we are creating a stronger, more sustainable ferry system. We appreciate the Legislature’s support and look forward to working together to keep Washington moving.

Updated Anacortes/San Juan Islands spring schedule starts Sunday, March 23

Our Anacortes/San Juan Islands route begins its new spring sailing schedule Sunday, March 23. This follows a successful winter schedule update that improved the season’s on-time performance from 68.5% in 2024 to 91.1% this year. The route’s seasonal timetables were recently revamped for the first time in over a decade. A new summer schedule will be released in April ahead of the season’s two-month release of vehicle reservations. The updated spring timetables will be used again in the fall. Our sailing season switch on Sunday will bring no changes to other routes. However, an additional late evening round trip on our Port Townsend/Coupeville run at 10 and 10:40 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays will begin on May 11.

Vehicle reservations are available for our Anacortes/San Juan Islands and Port Townsend/Coupeville routes through June 14, which marks the end of our spring sailing schedule.

One day left: Fauntleroy terminal replacement project online open house

You have just hours left to visit the online open house for our Fauntleroy terminal replacement project. Visitors can learn about the alternative we selected for the dock following extensive community input. Our recommendation will improve efficiency, providing more space to load and unload passengers. It would also increase vehicle capacity to 124 to 155 vehicles, up from 80 today – all while avoiding nearby Cove Park and minimizing environmental impacts. You can also provide comments before the project moves into environmental review. The open house will be online through tomorrow, March 21.

We need to replace our aging Fauntleroy terminal to maintain safe and reliable ferry service for the more than 2 million people traveling our “Triangle” route each year.

Sailing stats for week of March 10-16

For the week of March 10-16, we completed 99.5% of our 2,735 scheduled sailings. This figure is separate from on-time performance. Of the 13 cancellations, 10 were for schedule resets (when a boat is so far behind schedule, we cancel a sailing to get it back on schedule, providing predictability for customers) and three were because of vessel-related issues. There were no cancellations due to crewing.

Crew commendation

“…I am the mother of one of the sailors that was rescued from the Sound on Saturday morning (March 8). She and another sailor were swept off of their boat during a race and were in the water for quite awhile awaiting rescue. The Edmonds ferry heard the MOB call, and diverted course to provide a wind and wave break for the rescuers. The captain (John McMillen) did a masterful job maneuvering the vessel upwind of the rescuers and holding station…”