Meagan Nye, a second engineer on the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry Columbia, faces uncertainty regarding the end of her workweek.
Typically assigned to two-week shifts at sea, her schedule can stretch to six weeks, leaving her unable to plan her time off effectively.
“I love my job, but I don’t want to be there all the time, and I want to have a schedule so I can plan my off time and know if I’m going to be able to go home,” she expressed during a phone call.
Nye is responsible for overseeing the ferry’s complex systems, including three boilers, fuel, HVAC, and refrigeration.
Together with five other engineers, she works in split twelve-hour shifts, ensuring that the engine room is manned around the clock.
The shortage of staff has put immense pressure on the operations of the Columbia, Alaska’s largest ferry.
“We’re short-staffed. We don’t pay what everyone else pays, but we are under a contract. You can’t just leave, right? You could be subject to disciplinary action. You could be fired if you just leave. You cannot do that,” Nye said, highlighting the challenges faced by engineering crews.
Ferries are lifelines for communities along Alaska’s southern coast, vital for transport and economic activity.
However, the ability to operate these ferries hinges on a stable and adequately staffed engineering team, according to Nye.
She emphasized the critical link between safety and staffing, stating, “That’s our nightmare – having to cancel a sailing. I feel personal responsibility if there’s any cancellation. That’s terrible.”
The Columbia typically operates with two rotating six-person teams of engineers for two-week intervals, necessitating a total of 12 engineer postings.
A shortage of engineers not only risks operational efficiency but also the safety of crew and passengers alike.
To become a ferry engineer, one can either complete a four-year program at a maritime academy or apprentice as an “oiler” for about five years, working their way up to become licensed operators—what is referred to as hawsepiping.
Historically, many Alaskans have advanced to become ferry engineers this way, but Nye noted that fewer people are entering this pathway today.
“We have a lot less people coming up the hawsepipe because they have families, the cost, and they can’t just leave for that time and not be working. It’s just a lot more difficult now,” she explained.
Nye also mentioned heightened regulations and increased costs as barriers to entry, which has contributed to the decline of aspiring ferry engineers.
Current staffing challenges extend beyond engineers; about three years ago, around 60% of jobs across the ferry system were unfilled.
Although progress has been made in filling vacancies, AMHS Marine Director Craig Tornga reported that the ferry system is still about 10% short of the minimum number of masters and bridge crew required.
The Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association, representing Alaska’s ferry engineers, indicated that the vacancy rate within their ranks is nearly 20%.
In response, the union circulated a public petition entitled “The Alaska Marine Highway System is Sinking,” urging Governor Mike Dunleavy to prioritize wage increases for ferry employees.
The petition stated that staffing shortages were causing unreliability in state ferry services and negatively affecting communities that rely on them.
Josh Chevalier, the chief engineer aboard the Columbia, echoed similar sentiments about the staffing crisis throughout the ferry system.
He emphasized that while engineers work behind the scenes, their contributions are often overlooked by both the public and lawmakers.
“When people are stressed out and unhappy, I have to balance the needs of the vessel with the needs of people’s lives,” Chevalier noted.
Having worked in the ferry system for over two decades, Chevalier has noted staffing difficulties mounting over the last ten years.
This has coincided with an upward trend in wages for engineers on container ships and ferry systems in other states, while concurrently, state funding for the Alaska Marine Highway System has fallen.
Chevalier believes that the longstanding funding issues are part of a broader problem, where Alaska’s major population centers, such as Anchorage, wield more influence in the legislature, often at the expense of ferry infrastructure that serves the Southeast region.
He stated, “We haul a tremendous amount of traffic that never stops in Southeast. They drive up to Southcentral and stay in hotels and buy fuel and groceries, stay in Airbnbs; it’s a very valuable economic engine for the entire state.”
The present collective bargaining agreement for ferry system engineers, which governs a range of conditions from attire to leave policies, will expire next month.
The engineers’ union has been in negotiations with the state and has recently reached a tentative three-year agreement.
Union representatives chose not to comment on the specifics of the new agreement until it is finalized.
Currently, union ferry engineers are voting on whether to accept the terms proposed by the state, with details expected to be revealed in early June.
Engineers like Nye assert that the outcome of these negotiations could significantly determine the future of the ferry system.
“I mean, the number one thing that will fix the problem is money, right? It’s the pay. It’s a pay issue, trying to attract people from the academies. It’s just not enough to attract people when they can make so much more money elsewhere,” she pointed out.
Recently, the state reached a successful agreement with a larger union of state government employees that included increased healthcare coverage and an 11% wage raise.
Chevalier acknowledged the urgency of addressing staffing needs rapidly.
With 30% of ferry system engineers approaching retirement age, he warned that in five years, issues like broken boilers or faulty refrigeration could escalate into major crises if hiring efforts are not prioritized.
image source from：https://alaskapublic.org/programs/alaska-economic-report/2025-05-29/alaska-ferry-engineers-say-they-are-critically-short-staffed-with-no-easy-answers
