Almost one-quarter of the jobs in the state ferry system are unfilled, and the vacancy rate is highest among the positions that require the most training, Alaska Marine Highway System Director Craig Tornga told state lawmakers last week.
Among wheelhouse positions, the vacancy rate is above 30%, he said at a House committee hearing on Feb. 11.
The ferry system has been short crew for the past few years, limiting the number of vessels it can put into service and further eroding its passenger revenues.
To operate the cross-gulf route between Southeast and Southcentral Alaska — popular among families moving to the state and independent travelers looking to explore Alaska without driving through Canada — the ferry system requires enough staff to operate seven vessels. But it only has enough crew for six.
The ferry system will not operate the cross-gulf route for the fourth year running due to its staffing shortage.
“We’re losing more (crew) than we’re able to retain,” Tornga said in a presentation to the Southeast Conference a couple of hours before his appearance at the legislative committee.
“We haven’t made a lot of good progress there,” he added.
“Both the engine room and the wheelhouse (crew levels) are going the wrong direction right now, unfortunately,” he told lawmakers.
In 2024, the system filled 31 positions but lost 45 workers for the same jobs to retirement and resignations.
As of Feb. 7, the system was short more than 60 crew members in multiple essential job categories, including licensed officers, according to Tornga’s presentation to the Southeast Conference, an annual meeting of community and business leaders from around the region.
The crew shortage extends into the kitchen, where the ferries don’t have enough cooks to prepare meals for onboard crew.
Tornga pointed to uncompetitive wages and benefits as the culprit for the staffing woes. He called Alaska’s marine highway a “farm system” for marine pilots. The state can’t compete with other employers’ compensation, meaning that many wheelhouse workers leave as soon as they are trained, he told legislators. Pilot positions in Washington’s state ferry system pay 25% more than Alaska does, Tornga said.
He said the current situation is a marked difference from the history of employment in the Alaska ferry system. As recently as two decades ago, Alaska ferries were known as desirable places to work, he told legislators, thanks to the convenient schedule of working two weeks on, two weeks off and the beautiful waters in which the vessels sailed.
“They were full up. It was a hard place to get on,” he said.
Now, he said the ferries are impacted by a national shortage in crews that has led to a competitive labor market.
Tornga said the system is “looking at everything” to improve retention, but most decisions tie back to the budget. He noted that the state’s public employee retirement system, which was discontinued for new employees in 2006, has kept many experienced workers in the fleet. But pre-2006 employees are an ever-dwindling portion of the workforce and new hires are not part of the pension plan.
Alaska lawmakers are considering this year reinstating a defined-benefit pension system for public employees, with retirement payments based on years of service, though Republican minority caucuses in the House and Gov. Mike Dunleavy have questioned the move and whether it will address the state’s worker retention challenges.
The Sentinel contributed reporting for this story.
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