PBN blames flawed business plan for Hawaii Superferry’s demise
September 21st, 2009
Governor Linda Lingle was “off the mark and unrealistic” when she blamed the business community’s supposed lack of support for the demise of the Superferry, according to an editorial in the current print edition of Pacific Business News.
Instead, PBN went back to fundamentals and questioned the whole Superferry business plan.
Putting aside state officials’ blunder in reasoning that the Superferry didn’t need an environmental assessment, we are not convinced that there was enough passenger, vehicle and freight revenue to cover the cost of running two big ships.
In its brief time in service, the ferry showed it was unreliable and that the trip to Maui produced a nightmare of seasickness. Small businesses found it still made more sense to put their goods on a barge than to commit a driver and truck to an all-day run to or from Oahu.
Paid subscribers to Pacific Business News can read the article here