The ferry Island Home is back in service after Wednesday and Thursday morning issues with the emergency generator, the Steamship Authority said.

The ferry was out of service for two trips Wednesday after an issue with the emergency generator. According to a statement from communications director Sean Driscoll, Steamship Authority personnel inspected the vessel and the U.S. Coast Guard approved the boat to return to service in the early afternoon. Subsequent trips Wednesday were scheduled to run with both primary generators activated to provide proper safety backup, Mr. Driscoll said. SSA personnel were be stationed at the backup generator to manually activate it if necessary.

The Island Home was briefly out of service again Thursday morning when the chief engineer found a maulfunction in the starter for the emergency generator. Mr. Driscoll said the issue was likely caused by repeated attempts to restart the generator on Wednesday.

The starter had to be replaced, Mr. Driscoll said, and the 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. ferry trips were cancelled. Repairs were completed and the ferry back in service for the scheduled 8:15 a.m. departure from Woods Hole.

On Wednesday passengers had to be rerouted after the issue began during a routine test of the emergency generator prior to the 10:45 a.m. Island Home trip from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven. A relay failed to perform as expected and the emergency generator did not reactivate.

Passengers on board the ferry were moved to the freight ferry Nantucket for its scheduled departure to Oak Bluffs, Mr. Driscoll said. The 10:45 a.m. and noon trips aboard the Island Home were canceled.

The freight ferry Sankaty, was pulled in to service Wednesday afternoon to fill in for the Island Home, ran a 2 p.m. trip from Woods Hole. Mr. Driscoll said an additional crew was brought in for the Sankaty to provide unscheduled service as needed Wednesday.

The vehicle standby line at the Woods Hole terminal was closed temporarily Wednesday and reopened by 3:20 p.m., Mr. Driscoll said.