MANAGING AMID RAPIDLY CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES

This weather isn't inviting to travelers, but no matter.
That's not among the reasons for slow-down in ferry
traffic these days.   Here, the Arni J. Richter approaches
 the Island dock.  Washington, moored on the left, soon
will be ready to go from winter layup
 to assume the route's  daily operations.
(Purinton photo)

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

I met the ferry late afternoon yesterday afternoon at 3:30 pm (Tuesday, March 24), and coming off the ferry were two vehicles, a black pickup truck and the Ferry Line's box truck with the UPS/FedEx package freight.  There was but one paying passenger, the pickup driver.

Ferry Captain Tully Ellefson commented: "I don't think we had more than 20 vehicles Monday, all day."

The 8 am ferry departing Northport has typically been
a nearly full boatload, a mix of contractors, summer
property owners, and Island residents returning from
shopping and appointments off-island.  That pattern's
changed dramatically this week.

This morning, Wednesday, Mary Jo and I drove to meet the incoming Arni J. Richter's 8:00 am trip from Northport.  On board were: one bulk fuel semi, a dump truck modified to haul firewood to customers, and a contractor's van.  A total of three drivers and one vehicle passenger accompanied the vehicles.  Also, there was a bundle of morning papers for Mann's Store.  Waiting in line to board on the Island side were five autos and six occupants.

These are clear signs the public is heeding warnings.  On the one hand, a good thing: people are staying home, and we are carrying only essential traffic.  On the other hand, such low traffic volume provides minimal revenues to an operation that requires much higher numbers to sustain itself.

Following an analysis of the traffic vs. revenues experienced Friday through Sunday (March 20-22), and by projecting expenses vs. income for the next two months, Ferry Line management and Board took action to reduce our expenses and exposure (both the economic and the viral variety) through immediate modification of the ferry schedule.  Beginning tomorrow, Thursday, March 26, there will be only four daily round trips.  This change to the schedule will apply until further notice, with exceptions for medical emergencies, of course. We will need to be flexible from here on.

In light of previously published ferry schedules and web information, anyone who anticipates traveling by ferry, beginning tomorrow, should note the new departure times as follows:   
                        
                          Lv. Is.                                        Lv. Northport
                        8:00 am                                         9:00 am
                      10:00 am                                       11:00 am
                        1:00 pm                                        2:30 pm
                        3:30 pm                                        4:30 pm

Our projected ferry activity, coupled with the governmental urgings for the public to isolate, stay home and not travel, an even deeper look considers elimination of weekend trips.  Possibly all weekend trips.  That decision has not yet been made.

Ferry runs are being scheduled now with essential traffic only in mind.  The typical weekend traffic experienced in past springs would include folks coming for one or two days, such as property owners who are not full-time residents, with minimal or no commercial traffic.  Presently, folks who might show at Northport and take the ferry for sightseeing purposes - a good part of tourism revenue - are being discouraged from traveling to the Island.

Several other measures are being taken to protect both the public and Ferry Line workers.

    *  One ferry only will be utilized.  Currently, it is the AJR.  But several crew members are readying the ferry Washington, and going forward that will be the single ferry utilized.  One set of three crewmen will be on hand daily, along with shore administrative staff.  Shore maintenance work will be reduced to the most necessary tasks, or as required.

    * Package freight will continue to be transported daily from Northport, and then transferred from WIFL's vehicle to shelving or freight garage, as before, but with the aid of a conveyor transfer system.  This same set of rollers can also be used to provide a package to a customer, helping to minimize close interactions.

    *   At the Island's west terminal entry, normally used for customer package pickup/drop-off, visitors are asked to enter one at a time and then remain at a sensible distance, behind two chairs displaying the instruction to "Wait Here For Service."

Customers at the Island Ferry Office are requested
to stay a distance from the service counter, 
and to request assistance as needed. 
Janet Hanlin can always be reached at the
customer service desk.

UPS packages slide down conveyor. One way to reduce
package handling in an operation that requires
 repeated handling.

    *  The Northport upper lobby and restrooms are now closed, in part to reduce use by "Sunday drivers" and the general public.  This also reduces need to repeatedly clean those restrooms and associated surfaces.   (Please ask the crew if you need to use a restroom ashore.).  Rest rooms onboard the ferry will continue to be open for use by ferry passengers.

   *   The Island terminal lobby front door is closed, but restrooms will still be accessible from the package freight/customer entry.

    *  There will be no dedicated ticket seller.  As during wintertime operations, one crew member will man the ticketing booth on either side of the run, once the ferry is moored.

    *  New Island office hours will also go into effect:  Monday thru Saturday:  8:00 am to 4:30 pm
                                                                                         Saturday 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
                                                                                         Closed Sundays

All of the above changes seem drastic, severe, even.  And they are.  And they are meant to be.  The health and lives of our Crew and Customers may hang in the balance, even though as this is being written there have been no recorded cases of Coronavirus in Door County.  It may be a matter of days, or weeks, but protection now is best, we are convinced.

Secondly, we have grave concerns for the health of all island businesses, the Ferry Line included.  The only way to come out of this, we think, is to look for a more normal set of activities in the second half of the summer.  But, we'll see how it goes.

Employee door to freight garage.

Thanks to everyone for your understanding, and for your willing participation in what appears to be the greatest social disruption in Island history. It's totally different from anything we've previously experienced.

 -  Dick Purinton

MADONNA CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS 16.0

Washington Island ferry captains visit shipyard Feb. 12. 
With Madonna as backdrop:  Con McDonald, Kraig Krueger,
Erik Foss, Pete Nilolai, Rich Ellefson, Hoyt Purinton
and Dave Heath.  (WIFL photo)

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

Construction of the new Washington Island ferry Madonna continues within the large shed #411, a former Palmer Johnson Yachts building now owned by Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, located at the south end of the shipyard facility.

Hoyt and Rich were away last week, attending a meeting, and with their absence my photo source was lacking.  However, the work product moved ahead, although it may not show the obvious visual changes seen during the steel erection process, where frames, plating and hull shape shifted dramatically week-to-week.  But progress is there, and in ways that may be obvious only upon closer examination.

Several days ago, a portion of the ferry crew visited the shipyard for a close-up look at the new ferry for the first time (topmost photo).  When they left the Island, a skeletal crew remained to operate the Arni J. Richter, and yesterday the remaining men went to the shipyard, touring both the hull inside and out.  They were guided by Rich Ellefson, Hoyt Purinton and Fincantieri Senior Project Supervisor Steve Propsom, who have been with the project closely from the start.

Madonna main deck, looking aft, on Feb. 13 - Rich Ellefson,
Hoyt Purinton, Joel Gunnlaugsson, Jake Dahlke,
 Jeff Cornell and Tully Ellefson. Insulation materials
are stacked on deck.  (WIFL photo)

A fair amount of time has been spent assembling and adjusting the sundeck, in order to achieve the proper rake and smoothness.  The rather light steel plating that becomes the upper passenger deck can dish and warp, through the welding and fitting process, if steps are not made to eliminate such rippling.  The second of two photos (below) was taken from the upper deck looking aft over the main deck.  Carpenters, electricians, and painters now work daily in various sections of the vessel, staying out of one another's way as much as possible. The soft patch, a steel cover for one of the engine room openings, rests in the center of the deck.

U. S. Coast Guard inspector, shipyard personnel and Ferry Line
representative Rich Ellefson discuss plan details.

In this photo taken from the sundeck, main deck bulwarks, 
the solid ship's rails, are in place. (WIFL photo)

Two workers fit aft bulwarks to match curvature of the deck's shape.

Surface of the sundeck, made of lighter steel, reveals
effort to get smooth surface.  Disk welded to the deck
will help absorb welding heat when passenger
benches are installed, later on.

Although nearly all of today's photos were of work above-deck,
here is a shot of the starboard main engine, through the
main deck access opening. Piping is well along, and the engines
have been mounted in close-to-final position on rails, awaiting
boring of stern tube and  final alignment. 

Compressed air hoses, oxygen and acetylene
hoses, and electrical lines run to various work
stations on the ferry. (WIFL photos)

- Dick Purinton

More Signs of Spring

Snow banks were reduced further in late Sunday's
rain, and in the morning's warmth mist hung over
Lobdell Point Road.

Detroit Harbor -

Always a slow process, the cool weather of the past several weeks slowed up melting of snow banks, and the reduction in bay and harbor ice.   Ever so slowly it disappears and softens, but it was only Saturday, March 30, a little over a week ago, when the bay broke up and fields began moving.  Large pieces headed toward the Door passage with the potential of blocking, or halting, the ferry in its movement. The last scheduled crossing of the afternoon was called off.  Patience proved a good thing as ice piled against the shoreline on the Green Bay side of the Island, providing spectacular shoves in the late afternoon, we were told.  By morning, ice movement had eased, and broken fields lay to the west of the Door Passage.

Otter's unmistakable profile was an early morning surprise.

We've often observed evidence of an otter having passed through the Bayou area, leaving characteristic sliding and tail marks behind in the snow.  Similarly, it often left behind unmistakable piles of excrement loaded with shells, crawfish parts and fish scales.   Two days ago Mary Jo spotted an otter crossing the harbor ice, harassed by three crows as it scampered its way to the nearest hole in the ice.  This morning while having breakfast, grandson Zander saw the otter on the ice south of our home.  I fetched my camera, guessing it might swim for the next opening to the north.  It did.  Quite elusive until now, I think he or she's making a home nearby.  Could be a rough time in store for the small mouth bass that spawn in this general area later in spring.

As dark crept in yesterday afternoon and rain fell, lowering visibility, 37 sandhill cranes made an appearance on the harbor ice.  They landed one pair at a time, in intervals, as if signaled to do so from a control tower.  There, they congregated on the ice for the night.  This morning they were still together, only farther out, across the harbor, closer to Snake Island.  A variety of ducks, Canada geese, eagles and now the first great blue heron are among the visitors making an appearance each day as the openings in the ice enlarge.

In terms of human activity this morning, members of the ferry crew found ideal conditions to prepare the Washington for the season.

This part of the harbor happens to be ice free at the moment, but up in the shallows there's soft ice.  Fields of ice, given the right push by wind, could still cause challenges.  But, for the most part, reductions in ice will increase.  Wind and rain are now the best thing to speed up the process.  A bit of rain tonight is forecast, then snow Wednesday night into Thursday.  Maybe our last significant snow of the season?

Jeff Cornell buffs fiberglass benches on
the Washington passenger deck.

Pete Nikolai touches up with a wire brush while Tully Ellefson steadies the raft, an annual task to keep the hull and exterior bulwarks in good condition.  Above, on the upper deck, Jeff Cornell buffed fiberglass benches.  Soon, more ferries will be in use, underway, as one-by-one each is cleaned, painted and readied for the season.

Pete Nikolai (L) and Tully Ellefson man the painting
raft in this morning's calm.

 -  Dick Purinton

WINTER DOCK WORK

Detroit Harbor scene.  In foreground, the Standard Oil pier,
later Hansen Oil, and as of late 2014, Ferry Line north dock
Behind that is the former Cornell dock, now Island Outpost,
with Chris Andersen and his freight boat Wisconsin.
(photo taken in 1949 by Bob Williams)
In the background are several abandoned vessels in the shallows,
near what was the Chambers dock, now  the location of the Town's
launch ramps and the Island Clipper pier.

- Washington Island, Wisconsin

Like many waterfronts, Detroit Harbor changed over time, but many of those same appendages that were fishing or freight piers years ago remain in place, raised up and shored up over time as better materials and construction techniques, and capital to make improvements became available.

The dock in the foreground was owned at one time by Standard Oil.  It looks quite trim, capped with concrete, and it was used as a platform for unloading barrels of petroleum products, as well as transfer and other freight from the Anderson Transit's American Girl and barge Oil Queen.  (The Island Electric Co-op, with diesels placed into service in 1946, was using several hundred thousand gallons of diesel annually, and the Oil Queen helped to fill the tanks that kept those engines working.)

In the 1960s a good portion of the Standard Oil pier was enclosed with steel, with sheets driven outside the existing timber cribs.

Over time, the timbers that made up the old pier deteriorated, and so have the steel tie-backs and whaler supports that hold the sheets from tipping outward shown significant corrosion.  Much of the pier's interior wooden cribs and steel tie backs will need removal, or replacing, in a shoring up process designed to strengthen the dock before new fill and a concrete cap are added.

Detroit Harbor is frozen solid, and has been for the past
several weeks.   Here, Rich Ellefson and Joel Gunnlaugsson
are shown on the pier.   Several openings were made along
the pier face for examination of existing
dock structure.

Steel arrived Monday by semi, and work is now underway, much of it undertaken by ferry crew as a winter project.  So far, they've been favored with mild and sunny January weather.   Tom Jordan, Island contractor, has some of his equipment on site to help break up the old concrete cap into smaller pieces, eventually to be trucked away.  Mike Kahr of Death's Door Marine will bring a larger machine later today, for driving sheets into the bottom.   This is an ideal time of year to get this sort of work done, as all of it can be done from the existing pier structure - and of course, there are few, if any, onlookers to get underfoot.

Con McDonald (L) and Tully Ellefson
cut steel for new dock brackets to support
tire fenders.      

With mild weather and relatively modest winds, recent ferry crossings have been excellent.

Other than a few fishermen on weekends, traffic is made up primarily of service providers, suppliers and Islanders who need to travel back and forth.

-  Dick Purinton