After the past few years when resignations and retirements far outpaced new hires, the Alaska Marine Highway System was able to hire as many new onboard crew as it lost in the first six months of this year.
It showed a net gain of two workers, adding 47 and losing 45, though most of the new hires were in entry-level jobs and not the critical experienced positions that remain vacant.
The lack of enough crew to fully staff the state ferries has been a problem, keeping the Kennicott tied up this summer and creating spot shortages the past couple of years that have led to more overtime and an occasional canceled sailing — including possible cancellation of the Hubbard’s Lynn Canal voyages this week.
The Department of Transportation, which manages the ferry system, embarked on a concerted push at the start of this year to boost its recruitment efforts and improve its hiring process.
“We have been able to make significant gains in our entry-level positions — we had a net gain of 17 new stewards,” said Shannon McCarthy, communication director for the department. “We are also fairly successful at moving people up from these entry-level positions into deck and engine positions but it does take time, and normal separations are still outpacing our hiring for the experienced positions.”
The biggest loss in the first six months of the year was in qualified Masters, Mates and Pilots union members, adding two and losing nine of the highly skilled workers.
In addition, as of June 30, the system was short 27 engineers out of 81 slots in different skill levels, and down 27 crew with full pilotage licensing.
“This is just a snapshot in time and numbers fluctuate from day to day,” McCarthy said of the six-month list. “We continue an aggressive hiring campaign, including attending Alaska-based and out-of-state marine-themed job fairs, marketing our positions online and social media, working with a recruitment contactor, and continuing to offer new employee hiring bonuses.”
The recruitment bonus can be as much as $5,000 for a steward.
The wage for entry-level steward jobs ranges between $16.39 and $22.01 per hour, according to the marine highway website.
The department has faced shortages in all job categories the past couple of years. In March, it reported the ferry system was short more than 100 onboard crew to run the Kennicott, its second-largest operable ship, which remains tied up in Ketchikan.
The governor’s budget for the Alaska Marine Highway System shows about 600 full-time positions in marine vessel operations, though the actual payroll is far short of that number for the five ships running this summer, plus the shuttle ferry between Ketchikan and Metlakatla.
As of March, the ferry system counted about 450 onboard crew members.
The Department of Transportation has had an Anchorage-based recruiting firm under contract for more than a year, while also managing its own efforts to find and hire new crew.
“We’re doing everything we can. We’ve attended 10-plus job fairs since Jan. 1, as well as advertising in Alaska papers, at Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau airports, using social media for openings,” McCarthy said in an email Thursday, July 13.
“Since 2019, AMHS has lost more staff annually than recruitment efforts can replace. For every person hired, 1.8 people leave,” according to a Department of Transportation report prepared in January. That report, along with a consultant’s analysis that found the state had hired only four out of 250 job applicants referred by the recruiting firm in 2022, prompted the department to work toward improving its hiring process.
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