SEATTLE — In a new report, Washington State Ferries (WSF) says it will not be able to operate at full service for the next four to five years due to a litany of challenges facing the agency.
WSF has frequently highlighted both vessel age, availability and disrepair, and a shortage in its workforce as barriers to sailing the number of ships customers have come to expect on certain routes. In the agency's new Service Contingency Plan, it outlines reasons why they don't expect to return to full service until 2028 at the earliest when the first of new ferry vessels under construction are expected to enter service.
In 2015, WSF had 24 operable vessels, but has since retired five and only added two new boats. In the agency's 2040 Long Range Plan, they stipulate they need a total of 26 vessels to be able to provide reliable service on every route they offer.
WSF has the funding to purchase five new ferries, but the first of those likely won't be ready for four more years. Because of this, the agency plans to operate with a 15-boat baseline in the interim. Full service requires a minimum of 17 boats, with 18 or 19 required during different times of the year.
Despite having 21 boats available, WSF assumes a number of vessels will be out of commission for maintenance at any given time, and the agency assumes at least one boat will be unavailable due to unplanned maintenance.
With the 15-boat baseline, here is how vessels will be assigned to routes:
- Anacortes/San Juan Islands: 4 vessels including 1 inter-island only vessel
- Port Townsend/Coupeville: 1 vessel year-round (would be 2 vessels in late spring through early fall at full capacity)
- Mukilteo/Clinton: 2 vessels
- Edmonds/Kingston: 2 vessels
- Seattle/Bainbridge Island: 2 vessels
- Seattle/Bremerton: 1 vessel (would be 2 with full capacity)
- Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth: 2 vessels (would be 3 with full capacity with 2 boat service on weekends)
- Point Defiance/Tahlequah: 1 vessel
WSF does not plan to restore the Anacortes/Sidney, B.C. route until 2030.
Crew shortages are another factor that can cause major disruptions to WSF's sailing schedule, noting they have a minimum number of mariners required to be on each ship by law to complete a sailing. An international shortage of mariners, attrition due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a significant number of WSF's workforce reaching retirement age within the next few years complicate the agency's ability to fully staff all planned sailings.
For the next four years, WSF aims to complete 95% of its scheduled sailings while operating at this new, reduced level of service. The changes aim to provide predictability and reliability to customers, as well as provide more transparency behind the reasons for changes to sailing schedules and promised levels of service.