Updated May 7
An issue on a Nantucket-route passenger ferry, the Eagle, is leading to cancellations on the Vineyard route.
The Steamship Authority (SSA) announced that the Eagle’s bow thruster was found to be leaking gear lubricant on Friday afternoon. SSA staff shut off the Eagle’s lubricant system, and the vessel will need to go into dry-docking for repairs.
SSA communications director Sean Driscoll told The Times on Monday the Eagle is scheduled to go to Senesco Marine Repair Yard in Rhode Island on Wednesday, May 8. Repairs are estimated to take three days to complete.
When asked about potential leakage of the gear lubricant into the environment, Driscoll told The Times, “We deployed oil-response measures as a precaution, but we shut off the system immediately.”
The incident resulted in schedule changes for the ferry service on Friday. “All trips for today, Saturday, and Sunday are currently unavailable for booking as we work to accommodate displaced vehicles,” the announcement reads. “Booking may reopen over the weekend.”
The freight ferry Katama ran in place of the Eagle for the 8 pm departure from Hyannis on Friday. Meanwhile, the 6:30 pm departure from Woods Hole and 7:30 pm departure from Vineyard Haven were canceled on Friday so the passenger ferry Woods Hole could sail to Nantucket and begin running the Eagle’s schedule, starting with the 6:30 am departure on Saturday.
The Katama returned to Woods Hole to run in place of the passenger ferry Woods Hole, starting with the 8:35 am departure to Vineyard Haven on Saturday. The 6:30 am departure from Woods Hole and the 7:30 am departure from Vineyard Haven on Saturday were canceled.
Driscoll told The Times on Friday it was uncertain how many vehicles had been displaced. “We’re working to accommodate everyone,” he said.
That uncertainty didn’t change on Monday. “We moved around quite a few cars, so I don’t have an accurate count on displacements,” Driscoll said.
Updated with additional information from Sean Driscoll.
So much for the “lifeline to the islands.”
I agree….pretty shaky lifeline.
The SSA does such a horrible job.
Would we be better off if they were dissolved and their assets sold off?
The proceeds used to to provide discounted tickets, for true islanders, using private ferries.
I suppose that if you were not involved in the 6:30 and 7:30PM ferries from WH to VH on Friday, this would not seem like a big deal to you. But if you were on your way to help your family with a disabled adult family member, and you were suddenly stuck waiting in standby in WH, because they had sent your boat – which you had made a reservation on – to Nantucket, leaving you in a long line with no information about when or if you might make it over to MV… you might wonder what is going on here???
“Leaking Eagle”?!
I think I found my Spirit Name.
Who has lower fares than the SSA?
Who has ships in better condition than the SSA?
Apparently still leaking. I am returning to the island on Tuesday and just got a call late morning telling me I had been rebooked from 4:04 to 9:45 pm due to switch to smaller ship. That’s when I went online to MVTIMES to find out what was going on.
Stop with the cutesy headlines and start hitting the SSA hard with critical articles that force this failure of an “authority” to make substantive changes. And come up with a business plan that includes not relying on a perennial failing “lifeline to the island” for once the “authority” is fixed, scrapped or replaced. Something tells me the paper has a symbiotic relationship with the other failing island institution to keep circulation up.
This is all the fault of the owners of the SSA.
We the people.
The privately owned ferries don’t have these problems.
This paper is not failing.
If the SSA is failing is due to we the people and you.
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