Steamship Authority cancels evening trips on Saturday, citing staffing issues
CAPE COD - There's been a wrinkle in plans for summer travelers heading to Nantucket the first weekend of summer.
The Steamship Authority announced Friday afternoon that due to crewing shortages, the last round-trip of the day on the Hyannis-Nantucket route will be canceled Saturday; that's the 5:30 ferry from Hyannis and the 8 o'clock coming back from the island.
"Probably going to be a lot of people not happy, but, hey, we've got to understand. They work as we do," said one traveler "They also deserve a day off or whatever it is. Those people work every day."
The Steamship Authority recently explained the labor shortage was due to the unavailability of licensed captains and pilots, and a holdup in the certification of 10 crew members by the U.S. Coast Guard. But even the off-peak schedule adjustments affect a lot of travelers and workers.
Some passengers headed home to Nantucket Friday had to go without their cars because of the full ferry and now have one less option to bring it back Saturday.
"We have people sitting on the floor because we don't have seats for everybody," said one traveler. "If we have to stay here, we have to pay for, like, hotel. And search for a hotel now is terrible. It's more than $200 per night. So, it's not easy."
Representative Bill Keating said the Coast Guard is expediting the portions of the process over which it has control, and there is hope the issue will be resolved soon, but it won't be as soon as this weekend.
