Billionaire owner spends $4M to fix 8 Mackinac Island ferries
"Finding things every day. The shock of it all ... overwhelming"
Chris Shepler said he can’t figure out if he is trapped in a bad movie, a bad dream or or he’s just being punished, but the (bad) surprises just won’t stop.
“It’s like Groundhog’s Day,” he told Shifting Gears late Monday.
Shepler is president of Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry and the Mackinac Island Ferry Co., both owned by the Hoffmann Family of Companies, led by billionaire David Hoffmann of Naples, Fla.
But the transition to owning the second company known by locals as Star Line has been anything but smooth, first temporarily halting service and then pulling six summer boats and two winter boats from service for massive repair.
This is not what anyone expected, Shepler said.
“We’re finding things every day. We’re over the shell-shocked period but not over the fact that stuff just keeps coming,” he said. “You turn one thing, and find another. You turn another thing and find another. The shock of it all was overwhelming. I think we’re immune to it now.”
So far, $4 million has been earmarked to fix the boats, said Shepler, whose grandfather founded the ferry business in 1945.
The ferry boats shuttle an estimated 1.2 million tourists annually to the island tucked between Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas, surrounded by Lake Huron. Visitors bicycle and ride horse-and-buggy carriages. No cars are allowed.
Thankfully, tourism is tapering, Shepler said. Having one company handle the load of two businesses is not what anyone expected. The mayor and city council members, who oversee ferry service operations, have been supportive during this very difficult time, Shepler said. The city must approve schedule, fee and ferry changes.
Six weeks of challenges
“When we were testing the boat that ran aground the week before the Hoffmann’s bought it, this is one example of us finding stuff every day. We have prop damage, damage to the shaft and … We tied the boat to the dock, like we’ve done a million times, put the boat just in gear … and the cleat you tie the boat up (with) … at the stern popped off the deck. Just fell off.”
So, the first six weeks of ownership of the Mackinac Island Ferry Co., which has had a history of issues according to U.S. Coast Guard records, has been bumpy.
“I do talk to the mayor every day and give her and update, because things change every day,” Shepler said.
Mayor Margaret Doud, who has won re-election every year since 1975, is the nation’s longest-serving mayor, according to the Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau. (Doud also runs the Windermere Hotel on Mackinac Island, at the end of Main Street. Her cousin Andrew runs Doud’s Irish Pub and Doud’s grocery store. )
Jenny Gezella, president of Hoffmann Marine, which includes the ferry companies and Sip n’ Sail Cruises on Mackinac Island, is working with Chris Shepler to restore order to operations.
“We’ve experienced a lot of unknown and unprepared-for mechanical issues,” she told Shifting Gears. “We have found a lot of the fleet to be unreliable.”
‘This is the time to fix, not Band-Aid’
And the way the Hoffmann family and the Shepler family have run things, the situation was just not OK and required immediate attention to comply with safety standards, Gezella said.
“We’re now getting into the shoulder part of the season. It’s time to hit pause,” she said. “This is not anything permanent. In order to get these boats back to be in the condition we all expect — for our employees and the guests — this is the time to fix them. Not Band-Aid, fix the correct way.”
The 2024 season runs through October. The goal is to have the boats fixed and reliable for next season, Gezella said.
Currently, work is being done on six ferry boats used for summer transport and two winter boats that break through the ice with steel hulls, she said.
Fixing the five fast ferries involves massive engineering and safety compliance with boat weight issues and balance. The Mackinac Island Ferry Co. is running three boats: A pirate ship, a classic ferry boat and a freight boat, she said.
Schedules changing
No one on the team is to blame, Gezella said, and everyone is getting paid through their summer contract while the boats are under repair. All permanent employees will remain.
New schedules will be released by Shepler’s, which will pick up service to Mackinaw City and St. Ignace. Ten boats have the capacity to shuttle 1,400 passengers an hour.
Since buying Shepler's in 2022, the Hoffmann Family of Companies has spent an estimated $1.3 million in updates on five ferry engines, and that kind of investment will continue, Gezella said previously.
Tim Hygh, executive director of the island tourism bureau, said late Monday, “The bottom line is that our visitors are getting on and off the island in a timely fashion. Sure there are lines. We see them every year in peak season. But the lines are moving quickly because Shepler’s has basically doubled their departure schedules.”
Editor’s note: Phoebe Wall Howard covered Mackinac Island tourism and sailboat races for The Detroit Free Press for nearly seven years.
PS: As a former political reporter at The Des Moines Register and a guest lecturer at the annual Okoboji Writers Retreat in Iowa, I’m grateful to be part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. See below for a collection of interesting columns on various topics.