|
Water Ways Ray Pendleton |
Slip rental fees in
Hawaii are too lowFor 20 years, The Log, a boating publication based in San Diego, has published "Slips," an annual guide to the marinas along the West Coast.
It began as a four-page report and has grown to a 64-page magazine that contains survey results from marinas stretching from Alaska to Costa Rica. It is even available online at www.thelog.com.
"Slips" provides recreational boaters -- or potential boaters -- with comprehensive information on marina locations, availability, amenities and cost.
Its publisher has yet to extend the survey to Hawaii, but there is an ad for Almar Marinas, a company that manages five marinas in California, one in Mexico and Ko Olina on Oahu's leeward coast.
For anyone interested in the ongoing debate regarding marina privatization and appropriate slip rental fees charged in Hawaii, be they legislators, boat owners or bureaucrats, the latest issue of "Slips" should be required reading.
It takes very little effort to page through the guide and discover that, although our state has held a virtual monopoly on recreational boating facilities in Hawaii for decades, it hasn't and doesn't charge anything close to the market value for them.
It can be argued that given the state of the state's "small boat harbor" slips, most aren't worth much more than the current rates. But perhaps that's why they're in the shape they're in -- they've never generated enough revenue for proper maintenance.
And more perplexing, what can the state's rationale possibly be for continuing to charge its absurdly low rate of less than $5 per foot per month for the slips it recently replaced in part of the Ala Wai Harbor?
After the adjacent Waikiki Yacht Club rebuilt its docks, it doubled its rates to around $8 or $9 to recover its $1.5 million investment.
Considering that the Ala Wai's location alone makes it the most sought-after marina on Oahu, it would seem logical that its slip fees would be commensurate with those in similarly popular locations elsewhere.
But after reviewing the listings in "Slips," I must say it's not even close.
Long Beach's Alamitos Bay in California is one of the only government-run marinas on the West Coast, so it seemed to be a natural candidate for comparison, even though it offers a few extra amenities and is subsidized by offshore oil revenues.
Boaters there enjoy -- along with the usual restrooms, showers, water and electrical hookups -- dock carts, ice machines, holding tank pumpouts, picnic areas and 24-hour security.
Slip rates run from a little over $8 per foot per month to $18 per foot, depending on the length of the boat, as larger boats require more square feet of space in a marina.
And I imagine there is a waiting list for the nearly 2,000 berths there because in nearby Newport Beach the slip rates are considerably higher.
Among the many marinas listed for that city's harbor, rates range from a low of $11 per foot per month to a mind-numbing high of $36.06.
That means the owner of a 90-foot boat could be paying some $3,250 a month for a mooring that would only be about $400 in the Ala Wai, if it were available.
It would seem The Log's "Slips" guide makes it clear. As long as our state continues to provide undervalued boat moorings, our recreational boating infrastructure will continue to be a disintegrating and disappointing feature of Hawaii's economy.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Ray Pendleton is a free-lance writer based in Honolulu.
His column runs Saturdays in the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached by e-mail at raypendleton@mac.com.
