The Steamship Authority’s freight-carrying Governor was out of service last weekend. Wayne Lamson, boatline general manager, said moisture disabled one of her engines. Her loss for the weekend meant the loss of about 40 car spaces on each of her trips, causing delays for some travelers with auto reservations.
Mr. Lamson said that heavy weather Friday caused water to affect one of the motors. “We were down to one engine which allowed us to continue the trip to Vineyard Haven, but once we arrived we had to stop operating,” he said.
Friday, high winds approaching gale force forced the SSA to reroute ferries normally scheduled into and out of Oak Bluffs to the Vineyard Haven terminal.
The SSA cancelled the 11 am Friday freight boat Governor from Vineyard Haven to Woods Hole due to weather. More cancellations occurred throughout the day.
On Saturday a New Bedford-based tug towed Governor to the Steamship Authority’s Fairhaven maintenance facility. The boatline was able to clear up the backlog with the Sankaty, he said.
Scheduled work on the freight boat Gay Head, undergoing service in Fairhaven, was moved up and she returned to service on Monday. Because repairs to the Governor are expected to take two weeks, and she was scheduled to end service with the change to the fall schedule October 13, she is done for the year Mr. Lamson said.
“Our long range plan is to eventually replace the Governor and look to build a fourth freight vessel,” he said. “So that when we have two vessels operating as we do now and we have one in repair, we do not have to shortchange the boat that is in repair to get by this time of year.”
