At a meeting at the Falmouth Historical Society Tuesday morning, Steamship Authority leaders provided a short explanation about what caused a systemic website failure on opening day of 2018 reservations last week.
In a statement distributed as a handout, Steamship Authority brass wrote that they became aware something was amiss shortly after opening for reservations Thursday.
“Unfortunately, we soon realized the system was experiencing some issues,” the handout stated. “The IT group along with system programmers and system hardware vendors checked to isolate the problem. Initial indications came back to a hardware issue, but ultimately the problem wasn’t resolved until a configuration change was made.”
Just after lunchtime last Thursday, Steamship Authority general manager Robert Davis issued a statement that informed frustrated customers of what they already knew. “Our website has experienced an unexpected problem that has limited access for the booking of the general public 2018 summer reservation openings,” he said via a spokesman.
By 5:30 he issued an email that let customers know the problem was licked, and that the Steamship Authority was sorry for the agita. “We wish to thank our customers for their patience while we resolved our issues. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience,” he wrote. In an interview prior to entering executive session at the end of their regular session, Mr. Davis and general counsel Steven Sayers elaborated on the reservation system failure.
Mr. Davis described it as a communication breakdown between two types of software — the Steamship Authority website software and the SSA’s reservation system software. A hardware glitch initially suspected as the source of the problem last Thursday turned out to be a red herring, Mr. Davis said; the problem strictly stemmed from software. Steamship Authority staff ultimately had to call in IBM specialists to bring the reservation system back online, Mr. Sayers said. They did so by 4:30 that day, he said. He pointed out that even though the system was down for so long, by the end of day, the Steamship Authority processed about the same number of reservations as it did on the first day of last year.
Asked if there was a connection between the software failure and soon-to-be-upgraded accounting software, Mr. Davis said there wasn’t. He also said there was no evidence of hacking.
In other business the Steamship Authority board approved a request for proposals for March dredging of Slip 2 in Woods Hole. Dredge spoils would be trucked to an unnamed beach in Falmouth for renourishment purposes. The work is estimated at a $100,000 or less. The dredging still needs the approval of the Falmouth conservation commission and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. The board’s Falmouth representative, Elizabeth Gladfelter, a member of the Falmouth conservation commission, recused herself from the vote.
The board voted unanimously to approve a $108,768 change order to the ongoing M/V Martha’s Vineyard refurbishment project at Senesco Marine Shipyard in Rhode Island. The change order is for steel hull inserts and is projected to delay the delivery of the vessel to the Steamship’s Fairhaven facility by 14 days. The new projected delivery date is Feb. 16.
On the unanimous recommendation of the Port Council, Mr. Sayers informed the board of a revision to guidelines for television programing aboard ferries. In a printed staff summary, Mr. Sayers wrote that in response to complaints, news programs such as those on FOX, CNN, and PBS will no longer be shown, but local news programs like NECN will be, as will local and national sports matches, the Weather Channel, Food Channel, and Discovery Channel.
In a follow-up telephone interview, Mr. Davis said the revision came as a result of an uptick in complaints to staff aboard vessels and through other customer feedback channels.
Construction crews are putting the finishing touches on the new administration building on Palmer Avenue. Mr. Davis said he and his staff won’t be able to vacate the current administration building any sooner than Jan. 26. He didn’t expect the Woods Hole structure to be demolished for at least another month after that date.
“I would anticipate it would be the beginning part of March,” he said.
That demolition will only be down to the slab, he noted. Removal of the pilings and fill below the building is not part of the $155,000 winning bid.
Martha’s Vineyard’s board representative, Marc Hanover, was not physically present at the meeting. He participated via a teleconference device.
