2009-03-19 News

Rob Report

Ferry interesting

Superferry progress report makes waves




	Ah, the joys of inter-island travel.

March 19, 2009

The feature I wrote last week, a progress report on Hawaii Superferry that gave the vessel bad marks across the board, generated a lot of interest and feedback. The article sped around the islands, traveling faster than the much-ballyhooed boat it profiled. And now, with the recent state Supreme Court ruling, it's even timelier.

The story was quickly posted on a Kauai blog, Juan Wilson's Island Breath. A photo was attached that caught my attention, indicative of one family's trip via the Superferry. The photo, reprinted here, came from Oahu photographers Curt and Ramona Okimoto, and was published on their blog (photovisionshawaii.com) along with an account of their family's trip to Maui and back.

Around the same time, a Maui Superferry activist forwarded this account, sent to him by a Mauian who recently tried the fast-ferry service:

I took my car to Oahu on HSF a few weeks ago just to check it out. I lost a day each way on the trip. On the way to Oahu, we were delayed leaving Maui because there was no power to the hydraulics on the barge ramp, so vehicles were unable to be unloaded or loaded for about 45 minutes. Can you imagine how ugly sitting in a ferry vehicle hold for 45 minutes would be? You know some of those folks had their engines running...

We arrived on Oahu pretty close to on-time—so they took the north shore of Molokai route, and hauled ass, I'm sure. I got sick even though I'd taken one Bonine. Fortunately, I made it to the washroom before getting sick, and the woman in the stall next to me was throwing up too. Fortunately also, I had no food or drink in my stomach. I felt awful for the better part of 24 hours after that trip and mostly slept.

On the way home I took 2 Bonines and passed out on the ferry—so I didn't get sick. (They were nice enough to have someone accompany me to my car so I could bring up a blanket. Otherwise, I'd never have slept BECAUSE IT WAS REALLY COLD.) After I got home I was essentially knocked out for the remainder of the day. The reason I was able to sleep during that trip is because the ferry was so empty, there was a free bench. (It was pretty empty on the way to Oahu as well, just no benches available.)

If you think you want to sleep without ruining your neck, you have to get there early enough to claim a bench. That means you'd spend LONGER waiting in line at the harbor than you would to arrive early at the airport. You can't drive up and get on because the vehicles are coming off the dock and the traffic would be a problem. You've got to get there at least half an hour early and wait, just like you do at the airport...

I'd hate to be on it if it was crowded and the seas were rough. Last week someone told me of a trip she took with her kids and they and many others were throwing up IN THE AISLES! She said they come around with a shop vacuum to clean it up. To be fair, I hear it's a "lovely trip" when the weather is good.

As much as I enjoyed having my car on Oahu (and not paying the cost of a rental) I don't plan to make the trip by ferry again. In fact, I'm flying over next week for an appointment...

A comment came in to the MTW Web site from Kauaian Joan Conrow. "Please do not malign the albatrosses," she wrote, "by associating them with the Superferry. They are highly intelligent, extremely efficient, graceful and entirely remarkable birds."

Conrow is an accomplished writer, whose essays on Hawaii Superferry have appeared both in the pages of Honolulu Weekly and in Koohan Paik and Jerry Mander's book, The Superferry Chronicles. A former staff writer for the two major Honolulu papers, Conrow now authors a blog, Kauai Eclectic, which contains musings on things ranging from morning walks with her dog to Native Hawaiian issues.

So I fully expect that she had tongue firmly planted in cheek when she commented on my description of the Superferry as an "albatross of inter-island travel." That reference was metaphorical, of course, not intended to malign the two species common to Hawaii, the black-footed albatross (ka'upu) and the Laysan albatross (moli).

According to that font of 21st century knowledge, Wikipedia: "The word albatross is sometimes used to mean an encumbrance, or a wearisome burden. It is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798). In the poem, an albatross starts to follow a ship—being followed by an albatross was generally considered an omen of good luck. However, the titular mariner shoots the albatross with a crossbow, which is regarded as an act that will curse the ship (which indeed suffers terrible mishaps). To punish him, his companions induce him to wear the dead albatross around his neck indefinitely (until they all die from the curse, as it happens). Thus the albatross can be both an omen of good or bad luck, as well as a metaphor for a burden to be carried (as penance)."

And now you know. Etymology can be fun.

This past weekend, I received a notice of the Kauai Chamber of Commerce's upcoming meeting with HSF's new CEO Admiral Thomas Fargo, this coming Thursday, at the Sheraton Resort in Princeville. "Admiral Fargo," the notice stated, "will be discussing the Superferry's plans for its return to Kauai; its commitment to protect Hawaii's invasive species; cultural and natural resources; traffic; and the status of the EIS."

Another Kauai blogger and Superferry activist, Brad Parsons (no relation that we know of) responded: "It is being repeated in the community that the Kauai Chamber of Commerce views the return of the HSF as being necessarily beneficial to the businesses in the Nawiliwili-Kalapaki area. These businesses have seen a substantial drop-off with less cruise ships at the harbor and with lower occupancy at the Marriott Hotel. HSF's small potential on this point and the false assumptions on this point need to be clarified.

"There are three points relative to this: 1) By example, at Kahului Harbor where HSF has been coming and going for more than a year, businesses have not seen substantial rise in business attributed to HSF. In particular a restaurant right next to HSF's facilities at Kahului has not seen a significant rise in business over the past year. Businesses across the street from Kahului Harbor view HSF's effect as minimal and the larger economy as the driving factor; 2) Recent reliable reports from passengers on HSF put ridership at 50 to 70 vehicles and 150 to 210 people on average. Some weekends and holidays spike up to 100 vehicles and 300 people. This compares to a cruise ship with 1000 to 2000 people. HSF has only one-tenth of the people off a cruise ship and HSF accounts for only 2 to 3 percent of all inter-island transfers in Hawaii; 3) Experience at the Kahului Harbor shows that, two-thirds of those 210 average passengers get in their car and drive out of the harbor area without frequenting any of the businesses near the harbor. The other one-third get on a Roberts Hawaii tour bus and also promptly leave the harbor. There is almost no pedestrian traffic on and off of the HSF to frequent harbor businesses, a huge operational difference compared to cruise ships.

"In summary, the past year of service to Maui has shown that HSF has not significantly improved business in the harbor area nor on the island of Maui and therefore that unrealized benefit should not be the quick reason to pre-empt an unfinished EIS and mitigations not yet in place to deal with the known and expected problems from that traffic and new form of transport."

Finally, Maui Sierra Club and Democratic Party chair Lance Holter called and said the Superferry article "should be mailed to every Hawaii state legislator." He sent me a copy of "Resolution Envir 08-10, Seeking A Proper Environmental Review of the Superferry," which was adopted in 2008 as part of the state Democratic Party platform.

"The grassroots membership of the Democratic Party provided this resolution to strictly abide by HRS343, our environmental laws," said Holter. "The purpose of an EIS is to anticipate problems before a project is implemented, and to improve the project overall. The circumvention of these legal guidelines has led to policymakers and the Superferry bringing a host of problems upon themselves." MTW

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Blaming the Watchdog
March 19, 2009 | 07:36 PM

The Sierra Club has been getting a lot of heat from irate 'Oahu Superferry supporters. I think this is misplaced anger.

The Sierra Club NEVER sues except when there's a really egregious violation of the law. And they almost always win every lawsuit they bring because they are very cautious and conservative about what they take to court.

So the very fact that the Sierra Club was willing to go to court should have told Lingle and the Superferry that they were on extremely shakey ground.

The Sierra Club often SUPPORTS big projects and compliments EIS's. For instance, the Kaheawa Wind Farm received high marks from them and the Kahewaw EIS was an excellent piece of work that created a beneficial project that has worked exceptionally well and profitably for the company.

If an EIS had been done on the Superferry I suspect the results would have been that we got a much better ferry that was economically viable - not this overly big, overly fast, fuel guzzling, money losing mess.

The taxpayers would have saved $40,000,000 because the EIS would have required folding ramps on the ship (like the 2nd Superferry has).

Passengers would have seen lower priced tickets since the vessel would have been more fuel efficient.

Passengers would have experienced a smoother ride since the ship would have had a deeper hull and been designed to stand up to our interisland channels (instead of getting cracked by our waves)

And Hawaii Superferry could have stayed in business instead of consistently running at a loss and thankfully packing up its bags to go military contracting.

Ah -- but that was probably their plan all along -- they wanted the JHSV contract...which Lehman got. That's why they used an unsuitable, uneconomical ship and refused to go through the planning that would have made a better ferry service.

Karen Chun, SaveKahuluiHarbor.com
SuperFerry closed down by activists/lobbyists
March 19, 2009 | 08:36 PM

Yup, back to the old days. Hawaiian Airlines and Young Brothers are in control again. Take all the shellfish, rocks, plants, mud, or whatever you want as long as you can afford the costs and are willing to wait. By the way, how much fuel is used by that tugboat for the trip from Oahu to Maui or by the jet if it had to take 3 hours to go from Maui to Oahu. And what did it cost the State to put in that new airport a few years back (in terms of today's money)? And, how many of those passengers actually stop in Kahului to shop before zooming off in their rental cars to get to Kihei or Lahaina? And, what are we saving Kahului Harbor from anyway Karen? And Ron, did you ever actually ride the Superferry? Although the jet flight is only 25 minutes or so, my legs enjoyed the legroom. Three hours too long for you? But, you can talk on your cellphone; work on the computer; read the newspaper you work for at a relaxing place; have time to talk story with your fellow passengers; or just take the time to relax to get the stress out of your system. And you could certainly use a little of that. SuperFerry closes down operations - too bad Hawaii.

Bob McCully
please look at the facts
March 19, 2009 | 10:03 PM

Bob, thanks for commenting without resorting to the name-calling and obscenities that others have used. Please don't overlook the facts that indicate HSF was never even close to being profitable, even at reduced fares and waived fuel surcharges. Now they'll use the Supreme Court's decision as an excuse to leave, which many predicted was their intent all along. But they played the sympathy card well, and used the (part-time) employees as pawns. Don't forget the State Auditor Marianne Higa's report (though Lingle withheld documents as long as she could) condemning the actions of issuing an exemption from the EIS, and passing Act 2. Now all the Guv can say is, We were right all along," Anything worth doing is worth doing well, and haste makes waste. But HSF didn't heed those adages, and shunned public involvement with their planning process as much as possible. I'm glad MTW as an independent paper is getting some good factual info to the community, and also this account of how sick people get on the big boat. Bob, I appreciate the tone of your comments. But I think it's time the state stopped pouring taxpayers money into a big black hole in the ocean.

Dante Diaz
March 20, 2009 | 04:10 AM

Which Restaurant are you refering to Mr. Parsons in your article concerning "In particular a restaurant right next to HSF's facilities at Kahului has not seen a significant rise in business over the past year."? Surely your not referring to "The Hideaway." You know, that place where some of your "environmental friends" clogged his Parking Lot a while back to illustrate your NIMBY's Traffic Jam scenario and he got mad at you folks for utilizing his place without permission while he was closed??

Oh, forgot about that little fact? Or just a "Dirty Little Secret" you don't wanna talk about? Cause I don't think you could be referring to Burger King.

Anonymous
NEWSpaper?
March 20, 2009 | 05:02 PM

This isn't a newspaper its the circular logic of four anti-superferry activists passing their usual pabulum from one blog to another. We've heard enough, you accomplished what you want and now you blithely fly around in jets that produce 120 lbs. of CO2 per person they fly instead of 20 lbs. by ferry. (Oh and now each loaf of bread you buy also costs 1 lb. of CO2 because it's back to flying instead.)

Read the the draft EIS. No impact on: marine mammals, invasive species, or greenhouse gases. Yet whale watch boats already hit 3 endangered humpback whales this year. Pacific Whale Foundation first in line as usual. (Remember the baby whale they killed in 2006?) THAT's an environmental impact.

Kimo
Get your facts straight
March 21, 2009 | 07:29 AM

Neither Pacific Whale Foundation nor any vessel operating in Hawaii has ever killed a whale. 3 to 5 collisions occur each year with whales. None fatal. Why? Because the size & mass of these vessels do not pose a lethal threat. HSF did. Such a lethal threat is supported by extensive data. Look no further than current NOAA right whale rules restricting ships to 10 knots or less and you will seewherethe truth lies. Large, high speed ships whose mass is significantly greater (5x or more) pose the greatest threat to endangered humpbacks in HI. Enough with the PWF bashing. They have one accident in 29 years of operation. The facts show HSF nearly hit whales four out of 44 trips run last April. More importantly with a vessel that size travelling at such speeds would they ever even known if they hit a whale?

Jacques
PWF director loves real estate
March 22, 2009 | 04:05 PM

Please do bash PWF. The director, Greg Kaufman, is an opportunist more interested in money and real estate than whales. He likes developing properties in Makena in his spare time. He calls himself a "scientist" while he bulldozes archaeological ruins and willi willi trees.

bird
A Scientist?
October 19, 2009 | 06:16 AM

Greg Kaufman says "I’m a scientist."
http://www.mauitime.com/Articles-i-2008-01-10-169995.112113_Whales_are_an_Icon=.html
Really? What education and college degree does Mr. Kaufman have to let him say that? Any real scientists have a doctorate degree in the field they are doing research in.
What doctorate degree does Mr. Kaufman have and from what University?
It would be like him handing out aspirin to people and claiming he is a doctor.

I searched the PWF website but could find no resume` for Mr. Kaufman and his education. Did he even graduate from college?

Willy the Whale

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