Posted on: Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Bargains found in fares for interisland ferry
| • | Superferry proposed one-way fees |
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
Hawaii Superferry plans to charge a one-way passenger fare of $50 when it begins regular service between O'ahu and Kaua'i and to Maui in 2006, according to filings with the state Public Utilities Commission.
With discounts for advance and Internet purchases, a ticket could be as low as $42, making a round-trip fare about half the price of an interisland airline ticket, company officials said. Fares to the Big Island and on weekends and holidays would be $10 higher.
The ferry company's filings with the PUC this month give the first detailed look at the proposed fares, schedules and financing plan for the company, which hopes to have two high-speed ferries making daily runs between the islands by 2008.
"It's the first time for people to see the tangible evidence of what we've been proposing for some time," said Tim Dick, Hawaii Superferry president. "It's useful for consumers and shippers to see our fares and get a sense of how they can use them in the future."
If the filings with the PUC are approved, the company plans to begin service in 2006 with one ferry. It would make nine weekly round trips to Kahului, Maui, four to Kawaihae on the Big Island and three to Nawiliwili Harbor on Kaua'i.
Each of the planned 340-foot catamarans — now being built in Alabama — will be able to carry 866 people and 282 cars. A one-way trip from Honolulu to Maui or Kaua'i will take an estimated three hours; the Honolulu-Big Island run will take four hours, the company said.
With the service, "residents, visitors and local businesses will have an interisland transportation alternative to the higher-cost airlines and the slower and less-frequent interisland barge service," the company said in its PUC filings.
Hawaii SuperFerry would provide the first regularly scheduled interisland ferry service since SeaFlite ran from 1975 to 1978. Hawai'i's $1 billion-a-year interisland transportation market moves an average 22,000 passengers a day on interisland flights and 7 million tons of dry barge freight and 96,000 tons of air freight a year. Superferry officials said in their filing that there is still an unmet demand for more service provided at a reasonable cost.
John Sardinha, owner of Astro World Travel on Maui, said the ferry plans have been the talk of the town recently.
"The way I see it, any competition is good," Sardinha said. "It doesn't look like airlines are going to get cheaper any time soon, so guys are calling all the time asking about this ferry."
Weekday, round-trip airline fares to Maui and Kaua'i from Honolulu available on the Internet yesterday ranged between $173 and $226, depending on the time of day.
Spokesmen for Aloha and Hawaiian airlines would not comment yesterday on the proposed ferry rate structure.
Sardinha said many Hawai'i residents still travel interisland for business or family reasons but have reduced their leisure travel as airfares increased.
"Now, you're going to see more people traveling again, especially if they can take their car and still end up paying less," he said.
The ferry company plans to charge $55 to transport a passenger vehicle to Maui or Kaua'i from Honolulu and $90 for a pickup truck, van or limousine. Fares would be higher for the Big Island and at peak times.
At those rates, the company said a family of five traveling from Maui to Honolulu would pay about $530 for a ferry ride, including the fee for a car. The same family traveling by air would pay approximately $1,076 for airfare, rental car and parking, the company said in the filings.
Travel time on the ferry would be comparable to an airline trip when airport ticketing and security procedures are factored in, the ferry company said.
Hawaii Superferry said it has raised an initial $3.3 million and is raising another $55 million in equity. That money will be used to support an application that seeks a federally guaranteed loan to finance the construction of its two ferries, estimated to cost about $75 million each.
The company asked the PUC to expedite hearings and other steps in the application process so that it can have a decision by the end of this year.
"We need to keep moving forward so we don't disappoint our investors, the government and all the people who have given us support so far," Dick said.
The PUC, which regulates public transportation companies in the state and has to approve rates and tariffs, has not set a date for hearings or decision making on the Hawaii Superferry tariff filings.
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com. Correction: The name of the interisland ferry service SeaFlite was misspelled in a previous version of this story.
