Washington State Ferries (WSF) had a rough week: Monday saw 23 engine-room employees call out sick, paralyzing multiple routes; then Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, BNSF closed the railroad crossing leading to the Edmonds terminal, suspending the Edmonds-Kingston route overnight.
The Kitsap Sun reports that early Monday, Oct. 5, 23 engine-room employees called in sick, leaving 13 boats out of service — only five of the agency's 18 vessels were sailing. Three busy routes were cancelled outright: Seattle-Bainbridge Island, Edmonds-Kingston, and Southworth-Vashon-Fauntleroy. Others, including Seattle-Bremerton, ran on a single boat.
WSF wrote in a social media post that every employee qualified to fill the open positions declined to "keep the ferries running," named the workers' union — the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association (MEBA) — and cited chief engineers' base salary of $157,000, up to $350,000 with overtime.
Gov. Bob Ferguson met with WSF leadership Monday morning to discuss the "difficulty filling shifts."
MEBA pushed back. The Kitsap Sun reports the union said the call-ins "were not initiated or aided by the Union," adding it learned of the cancellations "the same way the public did — through media reports." Instead, the union called it "a frantic cry for help from an abused and frustrated group of highly-skilled and committed workers."
The union noted that past contracts required engine crews to carry one extra person, so a single sick call couldn't ground a boat; WSF has since cut engine crews to the legal safe minimum, forcing emergency replacements and "abusive amounts of overtime" on the rest. Wage and burnout fights for ferry engine crews have simmered for years — MEBA went public in 2024 over pay gaps between lower- and upper-deck workers.
Then came the second blow. My Edmonds News reports BNSF closed the railroad crossing at Main Street and Railroad Avenue in Edmonds from 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, through 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7, for track repairs — and that crossing is the access to the Edmonds ferry terminal, so Edmonds-Kingston service was suspended.
Last Tuesday sailings: 6:10 p.m. from Kingston, 7 p.m. from Edmonds. Service was scheduled to resume Wednesday at 9:35 a.m. from Kingston and 10:20 a.m. from Edmonds, pending the crossing reopening on time. WSF said it explored options to keep service running, but the closure left "no safe, practical way" to serve the terminal.
Travel alternatives: walk-on passengers can consider Kitsap Transit's Kingston Fast Ferry to downtown Seattle; others should use another ferry route or drive around.
Crew shortages plus a construction closure — Puget Sound commuters are in for a long week.