Ferries could save state
in future tugboat strike,
governor says
Gov. Linda Lingle said yesterday the scheduled launch of an interisland super ferry service in two years could be the option the state needs to move vital cargo in the event of a future strike by tugboat operators.
Last week's strike against Young Brothers Ltd.-Hawaiian Tug & Barge shut down commercial barge traffic between the islands for four days, prompting panic buying of rice and toilet paper at some neighbor island stores and fears that a prolonged strike would create serious shortages of goods.
Lingle at the time said the strike was making state officials consider alternatives in the future should another walkout halt shipments to the neighbor islands.
During her weekly radio talk show yesterday, Lingle said the two 345-foot vessels being built on the mainland for Hawaii Superferry Inc. could be the answer. Construction began last month in Mobile, Ala., on the first of the four-story vessels, each about the size of a football field, that can carry 900 passengers and up to 280 vehicles.
They travel about 45 mph and could make trips from Oahu to Maui and Kauai in about three hours, and from Oahu to the Big Island in about four hours.
While the ferries couldn't carry as much cargo as the interisland barges, they could make faster trips, Lingle said.
"They may not have as much room, but it would be an option," she said, noting that the only other option is air cargo which is much more expensive.
Lingle, who has become a big fan of the planned ferry system, said the state faces a "huge challenge" in preparing docking facilities at state harbors for the ferries, which load and unload passengers and vehicles from the rear, unlike cruise ships which pull alongside the existing piers.
"They want people to be able to drive in off the highway, queue up and drive right onto the ferries, leave their cars and go up on deck," Lingle said.
The governor noted that two backed-in ferries could load and unload side-by-side using the same pier space that a cruise ship would use by pulling in alongside.
"But it does cause a requirement for a lot more infrastructure at the harbor as well as on the roads leading up to the harbor," she said.
Lingle said the state is in discussions with Hawaii Superferry officials about the infrastructure needs and how to pay for it.
"The majority of it will probably fall to the state, but the super ferries, just like the (cruise ships), pay to come into the harbors here." she said.
Part of the consideration in the state's investment is the role the ferries could play in bringing more competition into interisland travel, now limited to air, and movement of cargo, now limited to barges, Lingle said.