For Third Summer In A Row, Staffing Issues Reduce Steamship's Fast Ferry Schedule

Steamship Authority general manager Bob Davis said the boat line has made progress in addressing its shortage of licensed deck officers, but for the third summer in a row, staffing issues will mean eliminating the final run of the day for its fast ferry, the M/V Iyanough.

The Steamship Authority normally schedules the Iyanough to have five round-trips from Hyannis to Nantucket during the summer months. But the final round trip - a 7:30 p.m. departure from Hyannis and the 8:45 p.m. return from Nantucket - has once again been cut back due to staffing concerns and crews having to train and familiarize themselves with the Steamship's new vessels.

On Thursday, Davis told the Steamship Authority's Board of Governors that the boat line had 63 people on its licensed deck officer roster, and that despite three recent retirements, the ongoing training and promotions have put the Steamship on "a good trajectory."

"However, there are four individuals now out on medical leave, so we'll be challenged to triple crew the Iyanough going into the summer," Davis said. "We're recommending that we double crew it. At this point, I think we'd be stretching our resources a little tight by having that fifth trip. It's not ideal. We know the importance of that fifth trip to Nantucket, but again, the consistency of being able to run trips as opposed to having cancellations outweighs that."

Nat Lowell, who serves as Nantucket's representative on the Steamship Authority's Port Council, said that given the situation with the boat line's licensed deck officers, the decision by management made sense.

"This trip on this boat, if anything has to be altered for whatever reason, this is the one it needs to be," Lowell said. "Not a slow boat trip, not any of that. This is the only one that is not detrimental to the overall operation of the Nantucket route."

While acknowledging the situation is not ideal, Lowell emphasized that during the summer months, Hy-Line Cruises operates its Grey Lady IV fast ferry (its largest fast ferry) with an 8 p.m. trip leaving Hyannis and a 9:15 p.m. trip departing from Nantucket. Not only does that help alleviate the loss of the last Steamship fast ferry trip, Lowell said, it also brings a slight economic boost to the numerous restaurants and businesses on Straight Wharf, where the departing passengers waiting for the Hy-Line often drop their final dollars before leaving the island. 

Last summer, not only was the Steamship forced to reduce the fast ferry trips to Nantucket, but the licensed deck officer shortage prompted it to shuffle boats between Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.

To address the staffing shortages, the Steamship Authority's management team made the decision to run four boats on the Vineyard route instead of the usual five, taking the M/V Governor out of service. The domino effect of that move meant Nantucket lost the M/V Woods Hole as it moved to the Vineyard route for the summer, and the freight boat M/V Sankaty took its place.

That shuffling has been rectified for the summer of 2025 - the Woods Hole is back on the Nantucket route instead of the Sankaty - but the staffing issues that remain will continue to reduce the fast ferry's schedule.