WA ferry system experiencing unprecedented staff shortage

SEATTLE (AP) — Officials with Washington State Ferries acknowledge the system is short on staff and in need of dozens of new recruits. KING-TV reports a March report from the ferry system says staff shortages are unprecedented in the system’s 70-year history. Washington State Ferry spokesman Ian Sterling said Monday that Ferries needs to hire, train, and get people out on the water. Delays and cancellations have been typical for months. Sterling says a staffing shortage had been expected even before the pandemic. Sterling says the Washington State Ferry system is competing with for-profit companies, particularly for engine room crews but that the system has hired “well over a hundred people in the last six months.”