Posted on 05/10/2006 9:23:12 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
HONOLULU - Without passenger boats, bridges or tunnels linking the islands of Hawaii, the state's four island counties in some ways are as isolated from each other as they are from the mainland.
That may change when the Hawaii Superferry, a four-story catamaran, begins running from Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, to Maui and Kauai in a little over a year. A second boat connecting Honolulu with the Big Island is expected to start service in 2009.
"This is like the coming of the jet age. It's a new transportation mode," said John Garibaldi, president of Hawaii Superferry. "How much of the beauty of Hawaii do you experience from 20,000 feet in the air?"
Over the past several decades, other boat services have tried to provide a viable alternative to commercial airliner service to move people around the islands, but every effort has failed.
The latest ferry service was originally scheduled to start this year, and it still has a long way to go before its new July 1, 2007, launch date. Even if the $235 million project starts then, it's unclear whether it will be able to turn a profit.
Environmentalists, lawmakers, farmers and lawyers stand in the way.
Some are worried that the Superferry project is being rushed without researching traffic effects on each of the islands, without planning to prevent humpback whales from being struck by the big boats, and without protecting against invasive species such as biting ants spreading across the islands.
"We're not being given the whole story. The shortcomings are being glossed over," said Lucienne de Naie, chapter leader of the Hawaii Sierra Club. "We need to get real and examine these things. All we're getting is shiny promises and platitudes."
The Superferry is expected to start service with one boat the length of a football field offering daily service from Honolulu to Maui and Kauai. It will carry up to 900 people and 250 cars at one-way fares of $42 per person and $55 per vehicle.
The ferry will travel up to 40 mph, with a trip from Honolulu to Maui taking about three hours, compared to about 40 minutes by plane. The shortest trip, from Honolulu to Maui, would be 89 nautical miles. The Honolulu-Big Island line would be the ferry's longest voyage at 140 nautical miles.
Plans for the Superferry have been moving along at an uneven pace for several years.
In a rush to take advantage of federal funding, a downtown Honolulu ferry terminal was completed in 2003. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta visited the unused terminal two years ago and called Hawaii's ferry plan one of the nation's most ambitious and forward-looking transportation projects.
Construction of the first boat is 75 percent complete in Mobile, Ala., and the state began construction this month of floating ramps to load and unload cars at each port.
Past ferry services have never lasted long, said Panos D. Prevedouros, a University of Hawaii professor of civil and environmental engineering.
"They had issues with the waves. ... The ride was choppy and the demand was low," he said. "The current project is different. This is a full-sized ferry that can transport hundreds and hundreds of passengers at a low price."
Some state legislators have questioned Superferry officials over how they will be able to compete with the soon-to-be four interisland airlines, which recently offered $39 one-way promotional fares.
Superferry officials argue that they will cater to a different kind of customer than the airlines, and that they don't believe the low airfares will last. Regular airfares range above $72 one-way.
One of the keys to the Superferry's success is its plan to allow vehicles onboard with the passengers.
Families wouldn't have to check in their luggage, farmers could load their produce in vans and school buses could bring children on field trips, said Terry O'Halloran, who recently filled a job as public affairs director to help improve communications with critics of the project.
"The interisland ferry is going to connect the islands in a way we haven't ever seen before," he said.
But the Superferry may yet run adrift.
Several lawmakers have threatened to withhold $10 million in harbor improvements because they say the Superferry hasn't adequately addressed some residents' concerns. A lawsuit on appeal to the Hawaii Supreme Court seeks a lengthy environmental review process before the ferry can proceed with its plans.
"Like anything else, you're never going to make everyone happy," said Warren Watanabe, president of the Maui County Farm Bureau and a member of a Superferry advisory panel. "From my perspective, I think they are putting forth their best effort to get everything resolved."
___
On the Net:
HAWAII SUPERFERRY:
http://www.hawaiisuperferry.com/
Expected to begin offering daily service from Honolulu to Maui and Kauai in July 2007 for $42 per person and $55 per vehicle.
bump for the HI ferry.
Looks awesome. I wonder how much money the enviro-obstructionists are taking from the airline interests under the table?
Zero wastewater... and non-toxic bottom paint... in the middle of the ever-lovin' PACIFIC OCEAN...???
Please... is this the best the nutbags can do??
The usual suspects...
Hi-Tech "Whale Avoidance"...???
Oh, fertheluvva...
Apparently the ferry folk have not been too forthcoming when questioned about many aspects.
I have to wonder at the impact of 250 vehicles coming ashore at, say, Nawilili on Kauai where it's just a two lane road already pretty busy; then there'd be the buses for foot passengers perhaps ?
That's a long trip when the plane takes 40 minutes.
gaydar
The bit about "non-toxic bottom paint" would be kinda funny if it weren't so sad.
The truth is that pretty much *all* bottom paint is non-toxic anymore, which is pretty much why it also doesn't work very well any more.
The truly *toxic* bottom paints of years past were mostly copper-based, and they adhered solidly to the boat but were toxic to anything that attempted to grow on them. They tended *not* to even dissolve metals into the water. They were not "bioavailable".
The "new" and "environmentally friendly" bottom paints work not by toxicity, but by "sluffing" layer upon layer of paint as things try to grow on them, revealing new fresh layers of paint, sluffing the layers into the water. Non-toxic... yes... pristine... no. Still all kinds of interesting chemistry being permanently deposited on the sediments of marinas. Sediments are nice and "bioavailable"... we'll probably find out years from now that it was all a big mistake (like the enviros did with MTBE's in gas).
Thanks, environmentalists... way to go.
I would enjoy every minute of it.
Is there any place for people to stand in the fresh air and feel the breeze? It looks all enclosed. All the ferries I've been on had a lot of open areas to hang out in.
The worst plane trip I was ever on was from Oahu to Hilo on the Big Island. Severe drops of what felt like hundreds of feet, pounding sideways rain, heavy wind. It felt as though the wings were going to snap off. The flight attendent (who said he had flown a chopper in Viet Nam) had beads of sweat all over his face, people were bouncing around, flying up in their seats, praying and crying.
When the plane finally landed in Hilo, I was the last one off (I'm a bad flyer, I was savoring the fact that I was on the ground) and the flight attendent and pilot were talking, not realizing I was still on the plane. Flight A. said "I didn't think we were going to make it" and the pilot replied "I didn't either". They were disturbed I heard!
I just about kissed the ground and vowed to stay on the island until my natural death.
Didn't, though.
Too bad. I like the fresh air on the ocean. Why does everything have to be inside now, with windows that don't open?
Safety..
Well, since the safety at all costs rubber room folks are the same ones who fret about overpopulation, you'd think they wouldn't mind a couple of people falling into the ocean now and again.
What total crap.
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