Space tight at Kahului Harbor
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui Bureau
KAHULUI, Maui — With growing passenger and cargo arrivals crowding Hawai'i's third-busiest commercial harbor, the state is moving to expand Kahului Harbor with plans for two new piers, a passenger terminal and other improvements.
Advertiser library photo • Aug. 13, 2004
But those efforts may not be coming to fruition fast enough.
The state is working to expand Kahului Harbor, Hawai'i's third-busiest commercial port, with plans for two new piers, a passenger terminal and other improvements. For many, expansion can't come soon enough.
A draft environmental assessment released last week describes a list of improvements to be completed during a 10-year period. Yet ship traffic is forced to jockey for space at Kahului and the cruise industry is accelerating its demands on the port.
"We're fitting them in here with a shoe horn," said Kahului harbor manager Scott Cunningham.
It's a juggling act that continues to be a challenge as cargo and passenger activity grows — and sometimes gets in each other's way.
The next few years are going to be even busier. The harbor will have to find space for the planned Hawai'i Superferry within two years, and the recent start of weekly visits by Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of Aloha heralds the coming of more cruise ships.
In fact, NCL Corp. has announced it will sail four ships throughout the Islands by the spring of 2006. In addition to the Pride of Aloha and the Norwegian Wind, the foreign-registered ship that cruises between Hawai'i and Fanning Island, the company's Pride of America is scheduled to debut here on June 6, and the Pride of Hawai'i is coming in April 2006.
Maui promises to be a focal point of the new American-flag cruise activity, with the Pride of America scheduled to offer three- and four-day cruises out of Kahului.
The Pride of Aloha is sold out through the end of the year, and bookings for the first and second quarter of next year are strong — the strongest in the fleet, said Robert Kritzman, executive vice president and managing director of Hawai'i Operations for NCL America.
Passenger bookings for the Pride of America just went on sale, and Kritzman said company officials are optimistic the Hawai'i interisland market will continue to soar. He said the Hawai'i cruise has the potential of becoming as popular as Alaska.
Public comment is being accepted for the draft environmental assessment. Send comments to the state DOT Harbors Division, 79 South Nimitz Highway, Honolulu, HI 96813.
"But the infrastructure for the foreseeable future will not allow that," he said.
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Kritzman said Kahului will be able to accommodate the new ships, but certainly no others.
As for the growing number of foreign-flag cruise vessels stopping at Maui, they will have to make their Kahului bookings when they can — or anchor off Lahaina as an alternative.
Meanwhile, other shipping concerns are scrambling for Kahului dock space.
Alexander & Baldwin's sugar ship, Na Moku Pahu, was forced to leave its loading berth earlier this month for 18 hours while a fuel barge with a confirmed booking used the same space at Pier 1.
"We had no other choice," said John Jackson, manager of Kahului Trucking and Storage Co., which loads the vessel capable of carrying 34,000 tons of raw sugar. "I think (the crew) went fishing."
The sugar ship, which can't make bookings because its schedule depends on when the sugar is ready to be shipped, returned to the harbor the next day to finish the 48-hour job of loading.
"What we need is more capacity in the harbor," said Jackson, who doesn't relish the proliferation of the cruise ships. "Pretty soon, we won't fit in (the harbor's) schedule," he said.
Sister company, Matson Navigation Co., decided it couldn't wait for the state. With the firm losing out on cargo business at the dock, the company fronted the state $2 million for the construction of a separate mooring and catwalk setup that essentially helps extend Pier 1 by 200 feet. That will allow Matson to tie up its large container ships at Pier 1 at the same time the cruise ships are in port. The project is scheduled to be completed by mid-September.
"What we really need is for the state Department of Transportation and the users — the Superferry, the barge carriers, the cruise ships — to sit down and take a look at what needs to be done for the next 10 years," said Gary North, Matson's senior vice president-Pacific. He added that similar issues need to be addressed at other Neighbor Island harbors.
For now, the state is planning two Kahului Harbor projects with completion dates at the end of 2005: the renovation and replacement of the Pier 1 restrooms, water line and sewer line ($2.3 million), and other improvements, including pavement strengthening, a new access bridge from Pier 2 and new utilities ($4 million).
The proposed expansion of Pier 3, a new Pier 4 and new Pier 2C, which would include a passenger terminal, roadway and bridge, as outlined in the draft environmental assessment, will be costly, said Scott Ishikawa, state DOT spokesman. He said they will remain in the conceptual stage for now.
And then there's what to do with the Superferry landing and the additional space needed for cars and passengers.
"We've got to find a way to make it work," Ishikawa said.
Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.
