Drop in crew-related ferry cancelations helping WSF improve sailing numbers in 2024

After a busy Labor Day weekend of smooth sailing, Washington State Ferries is reporting a decrease in ferry sailing cancellations during 2024.

WSF reported that ferry ridership was back to pre-pandemic levels over the Labor Day weekend as ferries transported 30,000 more people during that time period last year across the Puget Sound. Total cancellations through the Labor Day weekend were down 21.8% in 2024 when compared to the same weekend in 2023.

Total cancellations since January have also declined this year as compared to last, WSF spokesman Justin Fujioka reported. From January 1 to September 4 in 2023, WSF canceled 2.4% of its scheduled sailings, making for a total of 2,335.

The percentage of scheduled sailings that were canceled dropped by 0.5% in 2024 from January 1 to September 4, which includes one more calendar day because Labor Day was two days later this year, minus Leap Day, Fujioka reported. In the first nine of months of 2024 WSF has canceled 1.9% of scheduled sailings, or 509 fewer sailings missed than the same time frame last year.

The drop in cancellations can largely be attributed to a lower number of crew-related cancellations, Fujioka explained in an email to the Kitsap Sun. From January to September, there were 1,145 sailings canceled for crew-related reasons in 2023 and 691 in 2024.

WSF assistant secretary, Steve Nevey told the Kitsap Sun in May that the agency hired 600 fleet personnel in the last few years and has been working hard to graduate entry-level crew members to much-needed positions like captain, chief mate and chief engineer.

The number of cancelations was already dropping in the first four months of the year, as WSF had canceled less than 1% of its sailings as compared to 2.5% in the same time period in 2023. From October through December 2023, WSDOT reported a completion of 95.6% of scheduled runs. From January to April 2024, WSF completed 99.1% of its scheduled sailings, as compared to 97.8% in the same time frame in 2023.

“I think we've been pretty successful with the crew," WSF spokesman Ian Sterling said at the time. "We're going to get out of the crewing situation. And now, it's about vessels, and that's a longer term fix.”

WSF is still operating on a 15 vessel schedule with a 16th “bonus” boat on the way to the “triangle” Fauntleroy/Southworth/Vashon route when crewing and vessel availability allow, the agency reported in a press release.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Washington State Ferries ferry cancellations decline in 2024