Posted on: Wednesday, January 14, 2004

EDITORIAL
Time for a ferry service to float among Islands

Thus far, ferries have not exactly made a big splash in Hawai'i. The mid-'70s saw the launching of the Seaflite hydrofoil system. But its parent company went belly-up in 1978, ended the Hawai'i service and sold the three vessels to a Hong Kong operator.

Meanwhile, several intraisland ferry experiments between Leeward O'ahu and downtown Honolulu have flopped.

So that suggests news of this latest ferry proposal should be handled with a dose of caution.

We should also be wary of any proposal for direct state subsidy for this venture. But we shouldn't assume ferries are doomed in the Islands.

On the contrary, we remain excited about the prospect of a new interisland ferry service, particularly as interisland air travel becomes less convenient and more expensive.

Hawai'i Superferry has agreed to purchase two state-of-the-art catamarans to ferry passengers, vehicles and cargo between the Islands starting in 2006.

Each ferry would transport 900 passengers and up to 290 vehicles. And while critics have said Hawaiian waters are too rough and unpredictable for a reliable ferry service, Superferry operators say these vessels are designed to handle the Islands' choppy routes.

Sure our channels can get rough, but ferry technology has advanced, with GPS systems allowing the vessels to dodge bad weather.

For example, The Cat ferry, designed for all manner of ocean conditions, carries up to 900 passengers and 240 cars across the Gulf of Maine to Nova Scotia at highway speeds from mid-May to mid-October.

Plus, ferry travel here in the Islands could be a bargain compared to what we spend on air travel. Hawai'i Superferry estimates that the cost for a family of five traveling to a Neighbor Island by car ferry would amount to about half of what it costs to fly and rent a car.

Interisland travel should be no more elitist or less accessible than travel by highway. If we give them a chance, ferries might bridge the costly gulfs of commuting and commerce in this promising state.