A Maui News story which (as is the Maui News habit) was written almost entirely from the viewpoint of Superferry employees and owners, touting the Superferry’s “fast and affordable” service over the past 11 months proved too much for even the normally quiet Young Brothers who issued this statement.

“We want to be sensitive to Superferry employees (who were laid off last week) and what they are going through,” said Young Brothers sales and marketing manager Keith Kiyotoki. “We don’t want to seem insensitive to their plight and same time be careful not allow incorrect information out there.”

* Superferry passengers said other methods of transportation between Kahului and Honolulu “take days” while the ferry could get passengers and their vehicles to their destination within a matter of hours. Young Brothers officials said their barge service typically takes two days. Weekday trips depart about 5 p.m. and arrive 5 or 6 a.m. the next morning. Customers can book their trips up to one day in advance.

* The Young Brothers officials said it’s not correct to say that their company and others have not undergone environmental review for harbor projects. The 109-year-old Young Brothers has in the past and is today undergoing environmental reviews consistent with the same environmental review laws that apply to Superferry. The requirements kick in whenever the Hawaii Department of Transportation makes harbor improvements, including those laid out in the current Kahului Harbor 2020 master plan and proposed 2030 master plan.

* Contrary to what some may believe, Young Brothers has offered a 30 percent discount to agricultural distributors for the past 13 years, company officials said.

* Young Brothers has the ability to plug in refrigeration trucks during an interisland trip. The barge company also has its own refrigeration containers that cost as little as $30 to rent to store 500 pounds of fresh produce or more.

In a recent email discussion with a local whale expert I gathered the following:

The person who was onboard HSF and reported the whale strike to NMFS yesterday has lived his whole life on Maui, knows the ocean and feels that his observation of a whale strike is being dismissed and covered up.

He reportedly said

“I know a collision. That was a strike. That was no wave. The entire boat shook underneath where I was sitting. They hit a whale. This was no calm maneuver. The boat slammed into a whale and came to stop. This is a cover up. They are covering this up. Other passengers around me felt the same impact. Other people in other parts of the boat did not.”

Apparently divers were ready to survey the hull yesterday but were told to stand down due to lack of ‘credible evidence’.

Individuals who have spoken with the passenger (who reported the strike) all agree he is credible, sincere and concerned.

It is possible the HSF veered to miss a whale and the action of a hard turn resulted in a wave slapping between the hulls creating an impact sound/vibration that the passenger interpreted as a whale strike.

Then again, the average pod size in HI is about 2.2, so if they ‘missed’ the one they saw, what about the other one or two they didn’t? The concern here about reducing strikes, but really about the result when HSF strikes whales. This should be a wake-up call to HSF to abandon the ‘summer route’ and slow down.

Experts are now collectively wondering: “will HSF even know if it hits a whale?” At 355 in length, the aft portion is some 200 feet from the wheelhouse. The vessel can strike a whale anywhere on its length. A direct strike with the bow or keel is no different than a ‘glancing blow’ from the ship’s side. A strike is a strike. But in the latter case, it may never be felt in those roiling seas. Ditto for a direct strike. No one knows. And no one has an answer. In part, this is what the IT Permit will determine — probability of strikes and number of takes (strikes, kills) before the operation is suspended.

One whale expert is willing to withhold judgment on whether there is a cover up in progress, but there is at least one passenger on yesterday’s trip that claims that a whale strike is being covered up.

The Superferry unexpectedly canceled reservations and intends to go into dry dock after having to turn back in high seas after cars broke loose with ensuing damage. You may recall that in 2008, the Superferry suffered cracks and damage and unexpectedly went into dry dock in a similar fashion.

This repeated inability to stand up to conditions of the channels between Maui and ‘Oahu serves to emphasize criticisms that the ship chosen was not suited to the ocean conditions, reasonable passenger estimates nor fuel efficiency. A smaller, V-hulled ship which traveled more slowly would have been more physically and financially viable.

All this would have come out in an EIS and did come out in comments prior to the initial launch.

The idea that its sister ship can stand up to the even more harsh conditions of the Alenuihaha channel next to the Big Island is not reasonable.

From Star Bulletin

The Hawaii Superferry said this afternoon that it will dry dock the Alakai
at Honolulu Harbor Feb. 2-Feb. 17 for annual maintenance and certification
required by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Reservations have been blocked out during this period and are open beginning
Feb. 18. Customers who have made reservations during the dry dock period are
being contacted and offered the option of receiving a full refund or booking
for a later date, the company said.

³We appreciate the patience and understanding of our passengers while our
vessel is undergoing its routine drydock requirement, Superferry Director
of Marine Operations John Keever said in a statement.

Surfrider Foundation issued an excellent comment on the EA for permanently mooring the Superferry Barge (AKA Lingle’s Folly) at the end of Pier 2 in Kahului Harbor. You may recall that we are spending about a third of a million dollars per year for a tug to keep the barge against the dock.

In their comments, they point out that breaking out this from the larger issue of a Superferry EIS amounts to segmentation – an illegal technique of breaking a large project into two or more smaller projects in order to bring them in under the radar.

Read their comments here.

The Draft (FAKE) “EIS” on the “Large Capacity Ferry” was just released and is available at:

http://hawaii.gov/dot/harbors/whats-new/statewide-large-capacity-ferry-environmental

Comments are due by February 23, 2009.

Governor Lingle, while cutting funds for schools, paid $1.3 million for this EIS, another half a million dollars to fix the barge, and over $300,000 for a ferry to push the barge against the dock.

$2 million in the last year and $40 million the year before! While cutting programs that really help us. Why did we pay this instead of the business that benefited?