Following two days of large ocean swells and heavy surge that forced Superferry to cancel operations, the Alakai made its way into Kahului as scheduled and with no problems on Friday, ferry officials said.

State Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said the ferry's damaged docking barge was put back into place after inspection on Thursday. He said the "damage was not as extensive as initially feared."

Ishikawa said that a damaged fender guard that was attached to the ferry's docking barge was removed.

The 10-square-foot fender had hit the pier during the high surf earlier this week.

Ishikawa said there were no damages to the barge and the fender was not necessary to the barge or the ferry's operations.

The docking barge is used to load cars onto and off the ferry from the Pier 2 terminal.

The Coast Guard approved the changes made to the barge, Ishikawa said.

Heavy swells on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning caused the docking barge to hit the pier, so it was moved from berth 2C to a more protected berth 2B, where the Alakai would normally tie up.

The berth on the end of Pier 2 is the most exposed to the swells flowing through the Kahului Harbor entrance.

A high-surf advisory was posted for Maui through this morning, but the marine forecast said the swell was from the northwest, which would be less likely to generate a severe surge in Kahului Harbor.

On Wednesday, with a north swell flowing directly through the harbor entrance surge was estimated at around 5 feet in the harbor.