State seeks
$2 mil cruise
pier upgrade

The improvement would help
in unloading passengers and
could be used for a ferry system

By Jerry Tune
Star-Bulletin

State officials want to spend up to $2 million to improve the Pier 2 warehouse to make a more pleasant, efficient experience when cruise ship passengers disembark.

The state hopes to get the money from either the federal government or advanced by cruise ship operators then repaid by fees collected from passengers.

The warehouse also could serve as a destination for a possible ferry system, according to the state.

Right now, the warehouse building doesn't have air conditioning, modern baggage-handling facilities, restrooms, or telephones for passengers to call home or make arrangements in Honolulu.

Cruise industry and state officials say those things are critical if Pier 2 is going to be the main docking facility for cruise ships that now use Piers 10-11 which does have facilities for passengers and baggage.

Trinity Investments Trust LLC and its unit Waterfront ATM Development Inc., owners of Aloha Tower Marketplace, want to build a four-story parking garage at Piers 10-11. As part of a compromise with the state, the company agreed to postpone the parking garage's construction, slated for this fall, until the improvements at Pier 2 are made next year.

In return, Trinity would get development rights for Piers 5 and 6, and the second phase of Pier 10-11, said Tom Fujikawa, state harbors division administrator.

To pay for Pier 2 improvements, the state has applied for funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation's $200 million "Transportation 21st Century (T-21)" effort to boost the nation's ferry operations. The state expects a decision by the end of the year.

"We're looking at various options," said "If we get the federal money early, we can push it (improvements) next year and get ready for next summer. Another option is to ask American Hawaiian Cruises to fund the improvements and repay them out of our fees ($5 per passenger)."

The state already has been awarded $4.7 million in federal money for an Oahu ferry demonstration project but that money can't be used for permanent ferry improvements. The state is evaluating proposals from potential ferry operators and expects the demonstration next year, using trips between Barbers Point and Pier 9.

The improvements to Pier 2 being considered include:

Install mobile passenger gangways that adjust up and down, so that passengers could be let off on a second level (away from baggage) or at ground level as is now the case.

Put up a white teflon-coated Fiberglas covering, called a "sprung structure," which have been used in Hawaii to quickly erect space that can remain operational for many years.

Install portable restrooms, air conditioning for the warehouse space, and a bank of telephones.

A new cruise ship terminal might cost $15 million or more to build, according to maritime officials, but improvements at the existing Pier 2 warehouse could cost $1 or $2 million.

The Pier 2 warehouse was built in the 1950s and includes 168,000 square feet for the Foreign Trade Zone and adjoining similar space for the state Department of Transportation's Harbors Division. Currently, passengers come through the part of Pier 2 controlled by the Harbors Division.

The state uses the front part of the long warehouse building for the Foreign Trade Zone to hold a variety of products such as textiles, beer, wine, motorcycles, powdered milk, lumber, yeast and newsprint. Because of the slump in construction in Hawaii, the Harbors Division space is not used as extensively as in the past.