Steamship Authority Boss Updates Nantucket Select Board

Steamship service is up slightly this year, Steamship Authority General Manager Bob Davis told the Select Board Wednesday. According to Davis, through the first week of July, passenger service is up about two percent, car service is up just under five percent, and truck service is up around 2.5 percent.

Davis attributed the increases in part to the resolution of the labour disputes and crewing issues that plagued the Steamship Authority last year and the new collective bargaining agreement announced last month.

“We look forward to providing the service that the island expects,” Davis said.

Davis also touched on a few bills pending in the Massachusetts legislature that could impact the Steamship Authority.

One bill, sponsored by State Senator Dylan Fernandes, would impose term limits on the members of the Steamship Authority, limiting them to three terms of three years each.

Fernandes, who used to represent Nantucket in the State House, now represents Plymouth and Falmouth in the Senate.

This is not the first effort to impose term limits on the Steamship Authority. If it is going to pass, it has a long road ahead of it. The bill was referred to the committee on transportation in February, and the state’s website lists no further action taken since then.

The bill has sparked some controversy on Martha’s Vineyard, but there has been comparatively little discussion on Nantucket.

“We don't know what's going on over there anymore like we used to,” Steamship Authority Port Council member Nat Lowell said of the Vineyard. “We're over here just happy the boat's running and trying to get to work every morning and get to the Cape when we need to. But this is serious…and we need, I think, to schedule a future county meeting to discuss this.”

On Monday, the Edgartown Select Board on Martha's Vineyard voted unanimously to oppose term limits.

A previous attempt to impose term limits on the Steamship Authority drew sharp rebukes from Nantucket in 2022.

There are also two proposals to increase the embarkation fee paid by local ferry services including the Steamship Authority and Hy-Line. Like the bill to impose term limits, both proposals were referred to committee in February with no developments since. A similar bill was introduced last year but never passed.

One of the bills would increase the embarkation fee from 50 cents to two dollars. The other would increase it to one dollar.