Outsourcing a public good to a private company might continue if need be, Mayor Eric Eric Adams said Wednesday.
On New Year’s Eve, the Department of Transportation (DOT) ran two Staten Island Ferry trips between the Whitehall and St. George terminals using smaller boats that NY Waterways owns.
It’s not clear how much the city paid for those two trips, necessitated by continued disruptions to ferry service, but Adams said Wednesday at an unrelated press conference that the city would do so again if required.
“Whatever we need to do to accomplish the task. If we need to use Waterway, we’re going to use it. We are going to get people to and from Staten Island,” Adams said. “They are not the forgotten borough in this administration.”
The Department of Transportation was forced to use smaller, private vessels from NY Waterway to maintain Staten Island Ferry service over the weekend. (Courtesy of MEBA)
At least one interested party, the union engaged in a contract dispute with the city for more than a decade, thinks the city’s outsourcing its Staten Island Ferry service was unacceptable and dangerous.
“We are appalled and angered to learn the NYCDOT hired privately-operated NY Waterways vessels to transport our Staten Island Ferry passengers this weekend. This is beyond troubling and a dangerous precedent,” said Roland Rexha — the secretary treasurer for the The Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association, which represents the captains, assistant captains, mates, chief engineers and marine engineers on the ferry.
“The NY Waterways vessels are not ADA-compliant for the Whitehall and St. George slips, cannot transport our peak ridership of 4,000 plus passengers, did not operate to the safety requirements needed to operate passenger service of this magnitude, and employ crews whose training and qualifications are inferior to the training and qualifications of Staten Island Ferry crew members,” he continued.
The privately-owned NY Waterway vessels, which typically operate over a dozen routes connecting Manhattan to New Jersey, can fit just a fraction of the passengers of the Staten Island Ferry boats, though the DOT said there were no capacity issues during Saturday night’s trips.
CONTRACT DISPUTE
Adams said that contract negotiations between the union and the city’s Department of Labor continue, and said the city hopes to come to a resolution.
The union has been fighting the city for nearly 13 years for a “fair and respectful” new contract, with workers not having received a single wage increase since 2010, and union officials claiming the lack of a new contract and existing low wages have made it difficult for the city to recruit and retain talent during the national maritime workers shortage.
Negotiations remain ongoing with the help of a third-party mediator that was agreed upon in August, but progress has stalled as the groups await a final decision from Comptroller Brad Lander regarding prevailing wages for marine engineers.
In addition to the labor issues, ferry service has also faced challenges due to one of the new Ollis Class ferry boats being taken out of service.
During the evening rush hour commute on Dec. 22, a fire broke out in the engine room onboard the brand new Sandy Ground Staten Island Ferry vessel, which was just placed in service in June.
The incident prompted a massive emergency response, with tugboats and smaller NYC Ferry vessels being used to evacuate anxious passengers from the smoke-filled vessel.
Five people were injured during the incident, three of whom were transported to the hospital, though all injuries sustained were believed to have been minor, according to a DOT spokesperson.
At least five NYPD Harbor vessels and the Coast Guard responded to the incident. The NYPD Harbor unit requested all ferries and tugboats in the area respond to help evacuate the passengers, while two NYPD officers on the ferry helped distribute lifejackets.
Tugboats dropped their anchors in the harbor and helped hold the Sandy Ground steady while passengers were transferred from the tugboats to the responding ferries.
By 7:30 p.m., the Sandy Ground was towed to the Staten Island Ferry terminal in St. George after most passengers had been safely evacuated.
The next day, Rexha told the Advance/SILive.com that while the incident remains under investigation, staffers onboard the boat said the fire was the result of a fuel leak.
When asked whether there is concern that the issue could impact other boats in the new fleet, like the SSG Michael H. Ollis and the Dorothy Day, John Garvey, deputy commissioner and chief operations officer for the Staten Island Ferry, said there has been no indication of that to this point.
“I spoke with the Coast Guard last night and at this point there is no concern at all about it being a class-item problem,” he said.