Most folks who ride the ferries have no idea there’s a crew of highly trained engineers, unseen below deck, running complex systems that could run a small city.

Marine engineers control ships’ propulsion, power generation and other vital systems. We monitor control systems and ensure all machinery is operating correctly.

We not only operate the ferries, we repair and maintain their mechanical and electrical systems and equipment. We’re also the ones called when just about anything goes wrong on the ship, from the elevator breaking down to a failure of the sanitation system or galley equipment. We are also the ones on the frontlines in case of an emergency, such as fire or flooding.

Without enough licensed marine engineers working on the Alaska Marine Highway to operate, repair and maintain the ferries, boats tie up and sailings would be canceled.

When I joined the Alaska Marine Highway System in 2008, it was regarded as one of the most desirable marine engine room jobs in the country. I actually had to wait over a year for a position to open up. Over time, however, wages have failed to keep pace with inflation, or even with other state-operated ferry systems. Our wages don’t even come close to what we could be making in the private sector.

Of course we want better pay, who doesn’t? But the real rub that affects Alaskans and visitors, our community businesses across the state, is that our serious workforce shortage threatens the viability of our ferry system. The vacancy rate is close to 20%, with approximately 30% of our current crew members projected to reach retirement eligibility within five years. We cannot retain or recruit the experienced crew we need if the state doesn’t step up with more competitive wages.

Our crew is regularly working overtime, back-to-back two-week shifts that can go on for months. Overtime hours have been doubling every year, which not only costs the state a lot more, it’s burning out our valuable crew members. When we don’t get a relief crew to take over, we can’t leave the boat.

As I looked over the logbooks on the Columbia, I saw that we’ve had 30 to 40 relief engineers who came up here to work for two weeks but never came back. Most of them don’t live in Alaska, so if they took a permanent job here they’d have to pay for their travel to and from work. Most companies in the industry pay from travel from home of record.

Without addressing low wages, reliefs from the Lower 48 aren’t going to become permanent crew, and we’re going to lose some of our most experienced crew to retirement. That spells more reductions in ferry service and cancelled sailings.

Our maritime roadway helps keep communities connected and generates revenue for Alaskans. According to a report by the McDowell Group, the ferry system’s economic activity results in hundreds of millions of dollars in direct and indirect spending. The researchers found that the state’s investment more than doubled in economic benefits to Alaska and businesses.

We’re in a global maritime crew shortage. Highly skilled experienced engineers like the ones who work on Alaska ferries are increasingly choosing to work in the private sector and even in other ferry systems in the Lower 48.

I hope my fellow Wrangell community members will support the ships’ engine room crew by signing a petition circulated by the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association calling on the state to restore the days when the crews were fully staffed, the vessels were full of passengers.

Patrick McManus lives in Wrangell and is an Alaska Marine Highway System chief engineer on the Columbia.