COVID Staffing Shortages Continue To Cause Problems For Ferries

SEATTLE — Washington State Ferries employees woke up Friday morning with a serious problem: COVID-related staffing shortages had become so severe, they would have to reduce services for seven routes. That meant that the Seattle/Bremerton sailings, one of WSF's most popular routes, would be cut to just one boat for the day, while the Point Defiance/Tahlequah route would have no boat at all.

Friday was an exceptionally tough day for WSF, but staffing shortages have been an ongoing problem for the state's ferry system since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some longtime ferry employees have been unable to rejoin the workforce because they're at high risk for serious COVID-19 complications. Others are simply out because they've caught the disease.

"We've had a lot of staff out, because they've tested positive with COVID, and then that has a ripple effect with other staff being quarantined," Washington State Department of Transportation Assistant Secretary Patty Rubstello, head of the ferry system, told KING 5 last month.

The vaccination mandate is also a looming concern. Though some WSF employees threatened to "sickout" — call in sick in protest of the state's vaccine mandate for ferry employees — that largely did not materialize. However, as KING 5 reports, some 250 WSF employees remain unvaccinated and at risk of losing their jobs later this month, which could delay sailings further.

Complicating the problem is WSF's inability to quickly hire new replacements.

"Although COVID-19 restrictions have not allowed us to hire or train new recruits at the same rate as prior to the pandemic, we've brought on 100+ new crewmembers in 2021," WSF tweeted. "We used to hire new crews once a year before summer. We are now continuously recruiting new employees."

Attempts have been made to scale back service to match staffing. The final, late-night round trips of the Seattle/Bainbridge and Seattle/Bremerton sailings remain canceled, as have the final sailings of the Edmonds/Kingston and Mukilteo/Clinton routes. Other routes, like Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth have reduced weekend service or other suspended trips.

If there is a silver lining, it's that ridership is still likely down — at least a little lower than pre-pandemic normals. Last year, WSF confirmed it had seen 10 million fewer passengers in 2020 than it had in 2019, though by this January ridership had returned to about 60 percent of pre-pandemic levels.