After an exhaustive, months-long process, the Steamship Authority has chosen a company to revamp its outdated reservation system, and is hopeful a new system could be in place by next spring.
On Tuesday, the Steamship Authority board unanimously approved entering into a contract with E-Dea, an Italian software company specializing in vessel and port operations.
The decision comes as the public has heavily scrutinized the Steamship for its current reservation system, which often experiences glitches when reservations go live for the summer season. That scrutiny was exacerbated after the cost of a new website the Steamship had been working on ballooned to nearly $3 million; it ultimately tabled in September until a new reservation system was built.
E-Dea was recommended by Steamship staff after a more than five-month evaluation process. Although E-Dea’s proposal for a five-year contract worth $5.78 million was the second most expensive of the four finalists — the most expensive was Anchor’s $7.92 million five-year proposal — the Steamship team that reviewed proposals found the Italian firm the “best value” option.
Thomas Innis, the consultant from Gibbous tapped to overhaul the Steamship’s information technology infrastructure, also highlighted that E-Dea has experience with other large ferry companies, like BC Ferries in Canada and CalMac ferries in Scotland.
Mark Rozum, Steamship treasurer, said they plan to start rolling out the new reservation system by next April with the fast ferry Iyannough. This would be followed by freight ferries after the October schedule starts.
“We’d be going live with everything in the first quarter of 2026; [that’s] our goal,” Rozum said.
After hearing the presentation, Steamship board members commended the ferry staff, and were ready to move forward with E-Dea.
“I have no reservations as to the recommendations made, and wholly endorse it,” Peter Jeffrey, Falmouth board representative, said.
Jim Malkin, Martha’s Vineyard board representative, warned the new system will be a change for both ferry line workers and travelers, especially during the busy summer season.
“We’ve got a lot of stuff going on with a few cooks,” Malkin said. “If we need more people to do this right, then we need to know when and where and get that underway.”
The Steamship Authority also plans to do public engagement sessions and “continue with operational and technical readiness activities” like network assessments and updates to equipment.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Steamship management praised staff for working with the existing reservation system. “The Steamship has taken an antiquated system and built on it,” Mark Amundsen, Steamship COO, said. “It’s amazing to me the success they’ve had [in] developing that system.”
Steamship Authority clearly has issues. Last week entering the vehicle waiting area was an eye opener. At the booth, three employees were standing to welcome travelers at about 2:30 PM. It was not a welcoming experience as no one seemed to know what was going on when I asked if there was a chance of getting aboard an earlier boat. Finally, we were told to return in thirty minutes with no guidance about how to exit. Upon returning and waiting in line at the booth, we observed a couple of near crashes as cars were heading out across the oncoming loading path. No one was there directing traffic. This, along with some observations earlier this Spring and last Fall tells me that there appears to be a lot on new employees lacking proper training. I know the construction has created problems snd some confusion; but this is no excuse for lack of training and on the ground supervision.
Paolo
Aquinnah