North Carolina’s ferry system transports passengers to the hard-to-reach areas and islands in the eastern portion of the state, including Ocracoke. It also plays a critical role in evacuating locals and visitors during hurricanes or other strong storms that often threaten the coast.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation oversees the ferry system, which operates seven year-round routes plus one seasonal route.
The system has more than 20 ships in its fleet, not including support vessels. It transported more than 1.5 million passengers in 2024.
North Carolina’s ferry system has been in operation for more than 75 years and is the second-largest state-run operation in the nation behind Washington state. It’s the only form of public transportation for some Outer Banks residents.
What funding challenges does the ferry system face?
The ferry system’s annual operating budget totals more than $70 million. Of that, labor and fuel costs make up about 70%. Maintenance, equipment, supplies, and other costs round out the remainder.
Earlier this year, the budget stalemate between state lawmakers in the House and Senate put ferry service in North Carolina at risk. At issue was $7 million needed to fund ferry operations and external shipyard work, including repairs for Sea Level, a ship that runs between Ocracoke and the mainland.
Lawmakers ultimately approved the funding measure in October.
“That's going to go a long ways in ensuring that we have the boats we need for next summer,” Jed Dixon, the ferry division’s director, told lawmakers during a November meeting of the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee. “And it also will help with our overall reliability.”
Still, the ferry system faces several funding challenges.
At the same meeting, Dixon said the ferry system’s shipyard is “in dire need of infrastructure improvements” and has limited space for work.
Maintenance costs are another challenge because of the system’s aging fleet of vessels — 16 of 23 passenger vessels are more than 20 years old, Dixon said — plus, inflation is making repairs more expensive.
“The parts that we need to keep the ferries going are getting more expensive every year and we're not seeing any decline from that,” Dixon said.
At the meeting, Dorene Creech, deputy director of business administration for the ferry division, said the system has identified $23.5 million in recurring annual needs — $13.5 million for operations and maintenance and $10 million for vessel replacement.
“This funding supports critical areas like overtime and temp staffing to keep service consistent; routine facility and marine maintenance to prevent costly breakdowns; ramp rehabilitations; and Coast Guard compliance work at external shipyards,” Creech said. “It also provides steady funding for replacing aging vessels, which improves reliability and reduces long-term costs. These are not new initiatives. They're the core needs required to keep the system running safely and sustainably.”
The division, she said, has also identified about $69 million in unfunded, non-recurring critical needs, like replacing its shipyard's aging air and electrical systems; dredging and shoreline and other infrastructure maintenance.
It’s unclear whether lawmakers will provide the funds the ferry system’s leaders say it needs when a budget agreement is ultimately reached. North Carolina is the only state in the nation without a new budget.
What is the ferry system’s impact on the state economy?
North Carolina’s ferry system helps generate more than $735 million in revenue each year, according to a study of the ferry system published in 2020. Some of the routes help transport workers to their jobs, students to school and military personnel to the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in southeastern Craven County.
The ferry system, according to the study, also helps generate:
- $32.5 million in state and local taxes
- $217.3 million in employee earnings
- 5,860 jobs
- $40.3 million in passenger benefits like safety, and vehicle cost and travel time savings
Learn more
- The Ocracoke Access Alliance is an advocacy organization committed to improving transportation access to Ocracoke Island and the Outer Banks.
- Ferry Service information, routes, and schedules
This article first appeared on NCLocal and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
