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State should help
interisland ferry

THE ISSUE Proponents of an interisland ferry system are asking the state for a $40 million loan to prepare harbors.

A federal loan guarantee and private agreements have brought an ambitious plan for interisland ferries closer to fruition. The only key element needing approval is a $40 million state loan for improvements to state harbors, to be repaid over the next two decades through wharf fees and excise taxes. Legislators should not hesitate in approving the loan.

Governor Lingle praised the effort in her State of the State address to the Legislature earlier this week. "I believe this project can reinvigorate economic activity between the islands that has been stifled by rising inter-island airfares," she said.

Hawaii Superferry Inc. was notified a week ago that the Federal Maritime Authority had committed to guarantee $140 million in loans to build two catamarans, each carrying 866 passengers and 282 cars. The first ferry is 25 percent built and scheduled for completion at an Alabama shipyard in late 2006. The operation is to begin soon afterward.

The state loan is needed to raise piers and docks to accommodate the 340-foot ferries. Lingle has included $40 million in general obligation bonds for the upgrades.

Some legislators have expressed concern about the effect the ferries might have on cargo ships and struggling interisland airlines, but protectionism should not be an obstacle. The ferries undoubtedly will add competition to both passenger travel and interisland shipping.

The fare parameters presented by Superferry to the Public Utilities Commission suggest the passenger fare will be about half the cost of an airline ticket. The travel time will be about three hours from Oahu to Maui or Kauai and four hours to the Big Island. The ferries and airlines are likely to attract different types of travelers.

The ferries also will allow farmers to move their products onto the ferries in trucks, which then can be driven to stores and wholesalers, providing better service and possibly opening new markets for small businesses.

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Private giving excels
in tsunami relief

THE ISSUE Individual Americans have donated more money than the government has committed toward tsunami relief in South Asia.

HAWAII residents can join the rest of the country in taking pride in their altruism in the wake of the tsunami that struck South Asia on Dec. 26. In only a month, Americans donated $580 million in private contributions, far exceeding the $350 million committed by the government from existing relief programs. A national survey indicated that one-third of American households say they have donated money to tsunami relief.

In Hawaii, the East-West Center gathered nearly $340,000 for its tsunami relief fund, disbursing much of it to grassroots efforts in the affected countries. It is continuing to accept contributions at the center, on its Web site or at any First Hawaiian Bank branch.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said the nearly $1.2 billion it has received worldwide will be enough to fund the recovery effort for a decade, and the organization has begun to wind down its appeal. Eighty-five percent of the amount was contributed by the general public.

President Bush is expected to ask Congress next month for $1 billion in continued aid for tsunami victims. "We certainly will strip, in terms of real money contributions, the other countries of the entire world," said Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. For some countries, debt relief may be combined with other types of assistance.

No price tag is available for the immense military relief effort, provided by the 14,000 U.S. service members with the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group, under the Hawaii-based Pacific Command.

A volunteer military observer was Airman 1st Class Lyn Yin, a Cambodian refugee and St. Andrew's Priory graduate. "It's an opportunity to go back and help the people that helped me," Yin told the Star-Bulletin's Craig Gima, reporting from South Asia on the tsunami's aftermath. "It's showing the rest of the world what America is about."