Earlier this month, Shepler’s Ferry owner Hoffman Marine bought Star Line Mackinac Island Ferry Company. Because of that, changes have been made to ferry schedules and operations leaving visitors and people who live on the island confused.
Tuesday, Mackinac Island Mayor Margaret Doud sent out a statement saying the island will use its regulatory powers to stop the potential economic impact with a single ferry service owner. During Wednesday’s meeting, Hoffman Marine and the City Council talked about the impact so far.
“I don’t know that actually, but people are just worried they want to get back to the main level three times. So maybe they’re shortening their trip here. What I hear from merchants is, you know, business is slower…don’t know how much you can do about it, but it’s the messaging is we’re going to take care of it as best we can, says Steven Moskwa, Mackinac Island City Council Member.
The City Council and Hoffman Marine Company came to an agreement, saying guests are still able to get to the island in a timely fashion. Shepler’s took over Starline’s original schedule, until the end of the fall season.
“Essentially what we used to do during that time frame is we ran every hour throughout the day, and then on the weekends we were running 9, 10, 11. Only what, the numbers suggest to us is, is basically if we take all of Starline’s departures roughly and add them to ours, which kind of evolves to us running every half hour from October 7th and until on, say it’s October 27th,” said Jason Wiley, Shepler’s director of operations.
Specific weekends in the fall were also discussed to ensure that during the race day on October 26th that runners will be able to arrive in time, and at the end of the season, workers are able to get off the island. They say businesses should get in touch with their employees, who don’t live on the island to make sure they can get home.
“You know, there’s 100 people coming out that 10:00 from the hotel that helps us to then put two boats there at 10:00 to. So yeah, I would encourage just reach out to, to our Director Of Sales Katie or the office and we can coordinate any additional trips that we need for capacity issues.”
They will talk about winter operations at the next City Council meeting on Sept. 4.
A timeline of our coverage
8/9 – Shepler’s Ferry adjusts to Mackinac Island Ferry Company St. Ignace closure
8/12 – Tourism bureau discusses changes to Mackinac Island ferry service, wait times
8/14 – Mackinac Island city council votes to temporarily suspend Star Line ferry services
8/15 – Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau believes Shepler’s can handle all transport to the island
8/20 – Consumers could be hurt by reduced ferry service to Mackinac Island, economist says
8/27 - Mackinac Island still encouraging visitors, says ferry schedule is under control