Staten Island Ferry still facing major delays during Friday rush hour

The Staten Island Ferry will continue to run on an hourly schedule Friday morning after service was dramatically reduced during Thursday's evening rush hour due to sudden and significant staffing shortages.

The city Department of Transportation tweeted Friday morning that the service would be hourly, leaving at the top of each hour from the St. George terminal, and at the half-hour mark from the Whitehall terminal, beginning at 6 a.m. That is a significant slowdown compared to the usual clip of ferries leaving every 15 to 20 minutes, and the city is blaming a surfeit of crew members calling out sick.

"With a national marine worker shortage and as a result of this action, the Staten Island Ferry service is experiencing significant changes — these changes are extremely disruptive to the tens of thousands of people who ride the ferry every day, Staten Islanders commuting to work or home to their families, and U.S. military personnel visiting for Fleet Week," said Department of Transportation spokesperson Scott Gastel.

The DOT said the U.S. Coast Guard mandates minimum staffing levels for boats to set sail, including one captain, one assistant captain and various other crew members per ferry. On Wednesday night, two captans and two assistant captains called out. By Friday morning, the department said almost all captains, assistant captains, mates and chief engineers had called out. Other personnel were called to work overtime but did not respond to the DOT's phone calls.

"We expect any Staten Island Ferry workers who are not sick to come to work," Gastel said.

The Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association, the union representing crew and captains, implied the shortages were not a coordinated effort on the part of the union, which has been in a contract dispute with the city for more than a decade.

“We're very short staffed in our positions and it's affected service for the last, actually for the last two years, we've been seeing disruptions in service and all it takes is one or two people and it gets even worse,” said the union's secretary treasurer Roland Rexha. “It’s built on a house of cards.”

Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella said the matter was a result of the ongoing dispute.

"All parties must get back to the negotiating table immediately to resolve this once and for all," he said in a statement.

Around 3 p.m. Thursday, the DOT tweeted that boats would run hourly starting at 1 p.m. until further notice, and advised riders to use alternate routes if possible.

Clive Willis from New Dorp was at the Whitehall terminal Thursday afternoon during rush hour, and said he was frustrated by the infrequent service.

“It was exceptionally crowded,” Willis said via text. “There was only one boat going back and forth when usually there’s 4 crossing. I normally catch the 5:30. It was about 30 minutes late … If you don’t have a car you have no way off the island, it becomes a crutch.”

“It’s ok we’ll just swim,” said one Twitter user.

Last August, service was reduced under similar circumstances, leaving city officials scrambling to find commuters alternate routes.

Michelle Bocanegra contributed reporting.

This story has been updated with additional information.