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Steamship Authority apologizes to customers after cancelling weekend trips due to crew shortages
The ferry company apologized for inconveniencing customers.
The Steamship Authority apologized for inconveniencing customers over the weekend after cancelling several weekend trips due to staff shortages.
“Due to a crew shortage, the M/V Woods Hole will not run today starting with the 12:20 p.m. trip onward,” the Steamship Authority wrote on Saturday.
The Steamship Authority is the largest ferry service to the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket from Cape Cod.
Passengers with vehicle reservations on the cancelled trips were told to report to the terminal at their scheduled reservation time to be placed on priority standby and they would travel as soon as space was available.
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In a Sunday update, the company wrote on Facebook that impacted passengers on Saturday “were accommodated by the end of the day.” But Sunday brought more cancellations and delays.
Because several ferries ran later than scheduled on Saturday, early-morning trips on Sunday were delayed or cancelled to “allow our crews to get their U.S. Coast Guard-mandated rest period,” according to the company.
The 10:45 a.m. and noon trips of the M/V Island Home were cancelled on Sunday “to allow the vessel to get back on its published schedule.”
“Without this step, trips would need to be canceled today or tomorrow morning due to crewing hour limits and needed rest periods,” the company wrote. “Canceling this trip now will afford our staff more opportunities to accommodate customers this afternoon.”
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However, the 5 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. trips of the M/V Martha’s Vineyard were cancelled due to continued delays in boarding. All customers with a 6:15 p.m. reservation were told to report to the Vineyard Haven Terminal, not Oak Bluffs, to be queued for standby travel.
“Our crews and terminal personnel are working hard to accommodate today’s affected customers,” the company wrote on Sunday. “Please remember your patience as you travel today; we have received disturbing reports of verbal abuse directed at our employees, and there is no excuse for that behavior. We understand this is a frustrating situation, but please treat our employees with the same respect you would like to receive.”
The Steamship Authority grappled with crew shortages this past spring, cancelling weekend trips between Hyannis and Nantucket. Those cancellations came less than a week after the company modified its summer schedule due to “concerns over crewing levels.”
According to a press release released May 28, modifications to the Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard routes are in effect between June 17 and Sept. 5.
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