New Year…I think.

Well, here we are in 2022, which is looking suspiciously like 2021.

Just when we seemed to be getting a handle on the latest covid variant, along comes omicron. It’s that maybe we’re on the downside of that now, but…you never know when the next mutation will come along.

On the plus side of things, after spending much time sidelined after the engine room fire, the Wenatchee returned to service on the Seattle-Bainbridge route. Now, unfortunately, due to the aforementioned omicron variant, two-boat service on the run (and Kingston and Mukilteo) has been spotty.

WSF has been trying to maintain at least one boat service on these runs and doing a pretty good job of that, but it has been tough as breakthrough cases continue to hit the system.

BC Ferries warns of ongoing COVID-19 related staff shortages is what the headline says, and it has been happening with increasing frequency for the quasi-private company. While not as bad as the situation with WSF, it is another illustration of the fact that there is a shortage of maritime workers.

Perhaps the maddening thing about it was that we’ve been warned about it for the past 15 years at least, about the coming “gray wave” or retirements as baby boomers aged out of the workforce…yet nothing was done.

Not a ghost…

But things did go bump in the night up in Alaska . In this case, it was two ferries.

Et tu, Christine Anderson?

It’s happening to county operations as well, as the headline says: COVID-Driven Staff Shortage To Limit Pierce County Ferry Sailings

BANG!

Meanwhile if you want to buy a ferry, there’s two for sale…