Stepping into the new year, the Steamship Authority has a lot on its plate. 

The lifeline to the Islands is working to fill its top two positions, find ways to retain and recruit more staff members to stave off the rising number of cancellations, and balance the shifting travel patterns in order to keep the proverbial ship afloat, among several other priorities. 

The long list of work needed to be done in 2025 came into focus this week, when the ferry line board of governors approved 10 goals for general manager Robert Davis at its meeting Tuesday.

The goals for Mr. Davis this year include limiting cost overruns for the new Woods Hole terminal, awarding a contract for a new reservations system, improving community relations and developing staff in all areas of Steamship operations. The last goal would encompass hiring a replacement for Mr. Davis, who plans to step down in the fall, as well as a new chief operating officer.

James Malkin, the Vineyard representative on the board of governors, said filling the positions is essential to getting the Steamship on the right foot moving forward to deal with the budget, large capital projects and the crew shortage.

Passenger traffic was static in 2024.

Ray Ewing

Passenger traffic was static in 2024.

Ray Ewing

“This is one of the most critical things we have now,” Mr. Malkin, who now serves as chair of the board, said in an interview with the Gazette.

Also at the top of Steamship officials’ minds is the need to retool vehicle fares in light of new trends seen in the 2024 year-end traffic statistics, released in the first few weeks of January.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Mr. Malkin said the ferry line will have to take a hard look at the excursion fare program in 2025 to keep the budget balanced. The number of automobiles traveling aboard the Steamship ferries on the Vineyard route dropped in 2024, but the use of the discounted Island resident rate — known as the excursion rate — went up.

The overall number of vehicles carried by the Steamship Authority, both on the Vineyard route and the Nantucket route, went down in 2024 by 3 per cent compared to 2023. In total, 17,745 fewer passenger vehicles traveled in 2024, according to data provided by the ferry line. 

On the Vineyard route, non-Islander cars went down by 5.5 per cent and non-Islander trucks decreased by 5.9 per cent. At the same time, excursion cars went up by 2.1 per cent, and excursion trucks by 6.6 per cent. 

Excursion rates are heavily discounted to help Islanders with travel on and off the Island. In 2025, an excursion round trip fare for a small car in January costs $73, while the non-Islander rate is $140.

For years, the Steamship board has resisted raising the excursion rate, instead shifting the burden to other fares. When the excursion fare first started, they covered about 62 per cent of the cost of a regular fare. That’s now dropped to about 32 per cent of the passage, according to Mr. Malkin.

“Unfortunately, that’s not sustainable, because what we are doing is we are putting more and more cost on the non-excursion,” he said.

The year-end stats also highlighted one of the biggest complaints of the year: an increase in ferry cancellations. 

Budget concerns, keeping costs down for the new Woods Hole terminal and filling top positions are all on the to-do list.

Ray Ewing

Budget concerns, keeping costs down for the new Woods Hole terminal and filling top positions are all on the to-do list.

Ray Ewing

The ferry line saw a marked jump in cancellations in 2024, largely due the shortage of seamen available to work the boats. Including Nantucket cancellations, the Steamship had 1,628 boats not make their originally budgeted crossing in the first 11 months of 2024 — about 600 more than all of 2023. On the Vineyard route alone, 933 trips were not run during that same period.

A portion of the cancelations were the result of the Steamship cutting back on service for both the Vineyard and Nantucket to reduce the number of last-minute cancellations.

As the Steamship Authority grapples with the economics of the excursion rate and recruiting, opening day for the general traveling public is looming. For non-residents, summer vehicle reservations open for the Vineyard route on Feb. 4 at 8 a.m.

Last year, the date was delayed due to technical issues, but the Head Start opening last week for Islanders and preferred customers went off without a hitch, giving officials hope that their efforts to shore up the Steamship’s technology are paying off. 

On the first day of the program, the Steamship Authority made 7,817 transactions, totalling $2.3 million. Steamship officials Tuesday commented that an uneventful opening was a welcomed change as the ferry line prepares for the general reservation opening day, which Mr. Davis joked is like the Super Bowl for the Steamship Authority. 

“This is just sort of the precursor for the big events,” Sean Driscoll, a Steamship spokesperson, told the Gazette. “As a dress rehearsal, everything went really well.”

Louisa Hufstader contributed to this article.