After more than two years of development, the Steamship Authority’s long-delayed new website has been put on hold until a new reservations system is in place.

The boat line’s information technology director Stephen Colman told the Steamship board Tuesday that the new website just underwent two weeks of load testing, to see if it could handle the heavy demand from customers when general reservations open up early in the year.

“After a two-week period of time, it’s been determined that it will not sustain the level of activity necessary,” Mr. Colman said.

As a result, senior management decided to pause the project. The decision frees Mr. Colman and his staff to shore up the current website ahead of the general reservations opening in 2025, and to supervise development of the new reservations program.

The Steamship Authority’s current reservations system dates from 1997 and is owned by an outside vendor that is preparing to close its business. Mr. Colman is working with Gibbous LLC, a Belmont-based IT consultancy, on a request for proposals aimed at attracting qualified bids for a new reservations program.

The boat line has said a new reservations system is unlikely before 2026. 

It’s a complex process, Thomas Innis of Gibbous told the board Tuesday.

“We’re not just talking about the reservation system, we’re talking about all the systems that you see every day being used at the terminal,” Mr. Innis said.

“All of those hardware points, every part of the ticketing process, every part of the website, that all leads back to the reservation system and that is all going to be part of this project,” he said.

The request for proposals should be ready to issue this fall, Mr. Innis said, with bids expected in the spring.

The port council, a Steamship advisory board, earlier this month suggested shelving the website update until the reservation system, the more urgent concern, was ready to go. 

Also Tuesday, the board heard a business summary from treasurer-comptroller Mark Rozum, who shared some traffic numbers from the summer season.

From June through August, Mr. Rozum said, the Vineyard route saw 8,477 more passengers than over the same time period last year — a .9 per cent increase, he said.

In contrast, the Nantucket route saw a 5.4 per cent decline of more than 11,000 passengers since last year.

Vehicle traffic to the Vineyard was down .03 per cent, or just over 500 vehicle trips, according to Mr. Rozum’s report.

“The primary driver there is the standard fare automobiles,” he said, noting that full-fare auto and pickup truck trips fell by more than 3,000 vehicles, a 2.7 per cent drop for passenger cars and a 1.2 per cent drop for pickups.

But the number of excursion-fare vehicle trips increased by thousands, with 14.3 per cent more pickup trucks and 4.7 per cent more passenger cars traveling on excursion rates.

Mr. Rozum said the widening disparity between standard and excursion bookings will be part of the discussion when the Steamship Authority board begins budget talks next month.

Nantucketer Curtis Barnes, speaking during the public comment period, called for the Steamship Authority to increase fares in order to provide more high-speed ferry service to his island.

“Raise the rates. I know you need to do it,” Mr. Barnes said.