by Brandi Bennett

Chief engineer on the M/V Tillikum

When people think of the maritime industry, they tend to think of the Captain followed by the deck mates. These deck officers play an obviously important role aboard any ship, and it is a highly visible role. Engineers play an equally critical role, but we are largely invisible.

Marine Engineers are ship’s officers, operating below deck, in an essentially parallel structure with the above deck officers. The Captain and the Chief Engineer run their own cooperative, but independent, departments on the ship, a chain of command that is also reflected in Washington State Ferries’s management structure up to the executive team level. Like our deck counterparts, engineering officers are licensed by the Coast Guard, and also bear legal responsibility for the safe operation of the vessel. Because engineering and machinery spaces are out of the public’s sight, it’s not surprising that ferry riders often don’t realize there is an entire engineering crew onboard literally working 24/7 to ensure safe, reliable operations.

The engineering officers and crew are hard at work to make ferry travel uneventful. We are responsible for the operations of several locomotive engines running to provide power for the ship’s propulsion as well as all additional auxiliary equipment, and all the systems required to effectively run a small city – the lights , cooling pumps and hydraulic systems, toilets flushing, and water pressure at faucets. Electronics technology on board ranges from 1959 to 2024, with systems up to 4160 volts.

Like doing an oil change on a car every 5,000 miles to keep your engine running smoothly, the engine crew keeps up an exhaustive preventative maintenance routine encompassing well over a hundred pieces of machinery. This involves working aloft in the middle of the night on the ship’s whistle or searchlights, rebuilding a cooling pump, timing and engine or troubleshooting a motor controller while maintaining an inventory of often obsolete replacement parts.

Engineering officers and crew take pride in their ships and in being able to keep the vessel sailing for the public. This is a shared goal among the fleet with the understanding that we help sister ships, and it doesn’t matter if it is a day off. Ships get parts delivered once a month. If we need something in less time, it often involves driving to another terminal to pick up from or drop off the part for another vessel on our own after working a twelve-hour day.

Almost every engineering officer I know has gone on their own time and made purchases for the ship from their own money because the official channel is just too slow to be effective. We call each other when there is an unusual problem so that we can learn quickly from something another boat experienced,which means we answer the phone at three AM or on a day off with the end goal that the ship runs as it’s supposed to. We have to be flexible to work wherever our vessel is assigned, as boats are shuffled around to cover maintenance periods for other ships, and when our ship goes to the yard, engineers do the heavy maintenance of equipment overhauls.

As a group, engineers tend to be happy to work outside of the spotlight. Even Washington State Ferries’ management forgets about the engine room and routinely uses “all vessel crew” when they mean “all deck crew.” We have reached a workforce breaking point because of the excessive overtime we are working as a result of a lack of crew, and the inequitable treatment we are getting from the state. When a ferry captain makes 19% more than a chief engineer, despite the fact that these positions are considered essentially equivalent rank in the maritime industry, it’s insulting. Engineering officers may not have shiny gold bars on our uniforms to show rank. Our work may be smelly and dirty, but we are ship’s officers, we are professionals, and we are essential to safe and reliable ferry service to the hundreds of thousands of people in ferry dependent communities around Puget Sound. Engineering officers and credentialed engine crew deserve equal wages to our deck counterparts. To support our call for competitive wages needed to retain and recruit experienced engine room crew the Washington State Ferry system desperately needs, add your name by going to https://secure.everyaction.com/acNLZZOdYkmt3hMyTCTbyA2.

Brandi Bennett is a chief engineer on the M/V Tillikum, the sole remaining Evergreen State-class ferry operated by Washington State Ferries (WSF) and the oldest ferry operating in the WSF system. She lives with her family in Poulsbo.