(The Center Square) – Suggestions of privatization accompanied sharp questions about cost to taxpayers for North Carolina’s state run ferry service in a recent meeting in Raleigh.
The Cedar Island to Ocracoke service is costing taxpayers $230 per vehicle for each trip, said Republican state Sen. Vicki Sawyer of Iredell County.
The ferry service only generates about $2.5 million a year in fees. The boats are aging and in need of expensive repairs. New ones cost between $20 million to $40 million. When fuel prices jumped in 2022 and 2023, there were discussions of cutting ferry service.
Privatization of the service was also discussed. One legislator estimated that the ferry provides a $25,000 per year subsidy for each of the 700 residents of Ocracoke where the ferry is used by permanent residents who take it to jobs on the mainland.
There are 23 ferries in the fleet, 11 support vessels including tugs, dredges and barges. The fleet is aging, with the average vessel at 25 years.
“We need well-trained crews, we need well maintained vessels, we need efficient shipyards and we need funding and support from you guys,” Jed Dixon, ferry division director, told legislators at a joint House-Senate transportation meeting.
When fuel prices jumped in 2022 and 2023, there were discussions of cutting the ferry service routes.
“Seventy percent of our budget is made up of labor and fuel and there’s not a lot of places we can look for savings other than reducing service,” Dixon told legislators
Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, asked Dixon if the division had a plan to replace the 23 ferries and any suggestions “to keep this entire endeavor from sinking.”
Dixon replied that there is a plan for replacing the ferries but that funding for that is uncertain.
“I just see a big hole of how we are going to move forward,” Rabon replied. “We are just in a heck of a predicament and we are going to have to address it.”
The cost to the state per vehicle of ferry service is expensive, Sawyer said.
“You can see where there may be some issues with disparity in funding when you are asking one community to pay money to get to work, school and play, and other folks who don’t even live in the state get a free ride of up to $230 per vehicle.”
The state ferry service charges up to $40 per vehicle each way for the Cedar Island to Ocracoke service, according to the state website.
