Officials from six separate island communities are asking Gov. Janet Mills to intervene in a workforce crisis that has disrupted ferry service to and from the mainland.

Throughout the year, cancellations have plagued the Maine State Ferry Service that operates daily service to several Midcoast and Down East islands – affecting both residents and visitors.

The ferry for Vinalhaven docked at the Maine State Ferry Terminal in Rockland on May 23, 2018. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Recently, select board members and ferry advisory board representatives from Frenchboro, Matinicus, North Haven, Swan’s Island and Vinalhaven appealed directly to the governor.

“As we understand things, the principal problems are hiring and retaining ferry crew members,” the group of local officials wrote to Mills on July 11. “The challenges to hiring and retaining crew include both rates of pay and meeting U.S. Coast Guard licensing requirements. We have been told these problems are insurmountable; but we are confident that your personal involvement and leadership could succeed where other efforts have not.”

The Islesboro Select Board sent a similar letter to the governor on July 15.

“We would like to see this resolved in a fair and equitable way to retain and attract new workers and retain existing staff,” it read.

The letters were shared Wednesday by the Maine State Employees Union, which has sometimes been at odds with Mills’ administration over worker pay in other state agencies and departments.

But Mills has increased wages for ferry workers by nearly 25% since 2019. As of July 1, ferry captains earn between $78,000 and $92,000 annually and receive an additional 3% stipend; ferry engineers earn $73,000 and receive a 21.5% stipend; and ferry able seamen earn $58,000 and get a 30% stipend.

Paul Merrill, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Transportation, which oversees the ferry service, said the administration continues to look for solutions to the staffing issue. The ferry to Vinalhaven, which is the busiest, serves 70,000 passengers each year.

“Earlier this summer, we engaged a second maritime staffing agency as a short-term solution to improve the reliability of the second boat to Vinalhaven,” he said in an email. “We continue to work on longer-term solutions.”

“Maine’s island communities are an important part of our state, and we understand how much the cancellation of a ferry run can impact the lives of the people who call our island communities home. We are committed to continuing to work collaboratively to try to address this issue.”

The ferry service, which includes seven boats that run daily from Rockland, Lincolnville and Mount Desert Island, has not been fully staffed all season.

When ferry routes are canceled, residents can miss medical appointments, school sporting events and other plans. Additionally, some freight hasn’t gotten to island communities in a timely manner.

The Maine State Ferry Service advisory board met July 18 to discuss the problem and address growing public pressure. In addition to concerns raised by public officials in the island communities, more than 200 community members have signed a public letter to DOT Commissioner Bruce Van Note pleading for improvements.

“We urge you to address the ongoing staffing crisis within the ferry service,” the letter states. “Our neighbors who work for the Maine State Ferry Service deserve a living wage that can support them and their families, particularly when the cost of living and housing scarcity pose such challenges to retaining experienced crew and staff along the coast and on Maine’s islands.”

This week, Maine’s Bureau of Human Resources offered a proposal to the union, which represents ferry workers, to create a short-term incentive program to recruit and retain workers.

Union leaders were not swayed.

“This seems shortsighted,” member Jason Hall said of the proposed six-month incentive program for the ferry service. “While on the surface it sounds like a good incentive, there are too many restrictions to this proposal. For example, it penalizes anyone who takes vacation before the end of the year, or employees who might need to use their earned paid time off.”

Merrill disputed that claim.

“Employees can take two or three weeks of vacation between now and the end of the year and still qualify for the full incentive amount,” he said.