John Souza, manager of Mapunapuna-based Expediters Hawaii, is wondering if his ship has come in.

Like many executives running statewide businesses here, he has been taking a long look at the new Hawaii Superferry to see if there's an advantage to using the new interisland service over existing barge and overnight air cargo choices.

After mulling tariffs, employee transportation costs and other expenses, it appears the massive twin-hulled ferry could offer a lower cost alternative for Maui-bound cargo on Souza's busiest days. On days when shipments pile up and air cargo would cost $700, he will consider using the ferry to Kahului Harbor. The boat gets in at 9:30 a.m., or just a couple of hours after air cargo flights on Aloha would reach Maui, Souza said.

"For businesses you have one more option you can weigh."

Although no firm date has been set, the Superferry probably will begin service late next month. Its maiden voyage could herald a new era in commerce transport between islands and allow businesses to more aggressively seek accounts on other islands as they use the Superferry to shuttle trucks and cargo between O'ahu, Maui and Kaua'i. It appears the new service may generate new incremental travel, or interisland trips not taken now by businesses, while there also may be some cutting of the travel pie smaller between airlines, barge service and the ferry.

In terms of new travel possibilities, think of a tradesman who can hire himself out to a company on another island and "drive" his or her fully outfitted truck there.

Or Neighbor Island farmers loading up bananas in trucks and selling directly to Honolulu shoppers at open-air markets.

Travel packagers may start selling trips that allow people to rent cars on O'ahu and drop them off on Kaua'i. There is the possibility of companies reducing warehouse space on Neighbor Islands because they can send trucks packed at O'ahu facilities to accounts on other islands.

Other impacts may be felt by Young Brothers, which carries cargo on barges between islands, air cargo companies, and perhaps interisland airline passenger service as customers look at the new alternative.

"This opens up a whole new way of thinking, both for people shipping goods from O'ahu to the Neighbor Islands, as well as people shipping goods from the Neighbor Islands to O'ahu," said David Bess, a University of Hawai'i Shidler College of Business professor who has researched transportation management.

"It has the potential to change a number of business practices."

Those who've seen the Superferry's first boat, the Alakai, remark that it's larger than they expected. It allows the nearly 350-foot long and 78-foot wide vessel to accommodate 866 passengers and 282 cars. Perhaps more significantly for businesses, the Alakai can carry up to 28 forty-foot trucks or dozens of commercial vans and pick-up trucks. For people with refrigerated goods, there's 230-volt outlets available with no charge for electricity.

"We are going to be offering a service that we haven't had in the Islands before, whereby businesses have the ability to drive their vehicles on and off on a daily basis," said Terry O'Halloran, Superferry director of business development.

He sees the list of potential business users as contractors, construction workers, farmers, service providers and others. One of the first bookings from Maui was from a caterer who needed to get equipment to a Honolulu event, he said.

In Honolulu, news of the Superferry's start prompted U-Haul of Hawaii to build special repair vans that can be shipped to the Neighbor Islands. Starting in September, they'll be used to make the rounds of the company's Neighbor Island operations for work that's currently contracted out.

"It's something brand new for us that we're going to take advantage of immediately," said Don Rickard, head of U-Haul of Hawaii. That also includes laying plans to allow people to rent equipment on one island and drop it off on another. He sees O'ahu residents using trucks to move households to the Neighbor Islands, or a Maui student renting a van to take household goods to Honolulu when they attend the University of Hawai'i- Manoa.

Sharon Pomroy, head of Lehua Mamo Flower Farm, a venture that grows flowers, mangoes and bananas on six acres of Hawaiian homestead land in Anahola, Kaua'i, saw the Superferry as a way to reach Honolulu markets after finding scant interest from produce buyers on the Garden Island. Prior to finding an O'ahu buyer for the produce, Pomroy laid plans to load up a van with mangoes and head to Honolulu once the Superferry started operations.

"If I hadn't found this buyer, I'd be on the ferry in a minute," said Pomroy, who noted other small Kaua'i farmers are seriously considering similar plans.

Yet not everyone is sold on the idea of the Superferry as a tool for expansion or saving money over current shipping costs.

Steve Allen, owner of Maui-based Allens Plumbing, has operations on other islands and doesn't think it will be an attractive alternative, either for shifting work crews or for the potential disruption it may pose as companies try to expand into markets on other islands.

"I've thought about it a lot," said Allen. "I don't see it being to my advantage."

He gives as an example bringing a truck and crew from O'ahu to work on Maui. Besides the cost of shipping a work van ($122 on off-peak days with current 30.8 percent surcharge), there is one-way fare of $52 each and the four hours of wages he must pay for the crew to take the van to the loading dock and transit to Kahului Harbor.

Since the boat arrives at 9:30 a.m. on Maui and returns to Honolulu at 11 a.m., he would have to put the crew up in a hotel before they could return the next day. On Kaua'i, the ferry will arrive from Honolulu at 6 p.m. Schedules will change when another vessel goes into service in 2009 and the ferry begins serving the Big Island.

Allen said for now it's cheaper to have the crew fly over, rent a van for $89 a day and use some of the tools he already has on Maui.

The same timing and overnight-stay issues may dog O'ahu farmers' thinking about distributing goods on Maui. The hour and a half between the Alakai's scheduled arrival in Kahului and return trip to Ho-nolulu isn't time to make deliveries on the Valley Island. Dean Okimoto, head of the Hawai'i Farm Federation Bureau, said he needed more information about the ferry's rates before deciding if it would work for him. Direct comparisons with Young Brothers' barge service or Aloha's air cargo are a little difficult because of different tariffs and schedules.

For many small farmers, having to spend a night on another island would cost too much.

But Okimoto said the ferry company is willing to do a more complete rate analysis for him, and that there may be ways to take advantage of the service, either by banding together in a shipper's cooperative, or by using produce distributors who will be able to make the numbers work for them. So too, some farmers may like the idea of being able to have custody of their produce from the time it leaves the field until it arrives at customers' doorsteps.

Others can see immediate benefits in some areas of their businesses. Souza said his company currently contracts for mechanics to maintain its two trucks on Maui. With the Superferry in service, he can ship those to O'ahu and have his own mechanics work on non-emergency maintenance and repairs.

O'Halloran was busy flying around the state meeting with farmers and businesses last week to sell them on the idea of the ferry.

"It just goes on and on and on, the different businesses that are starting to look at how they can take advantage of this," O'Halloran said.

"If I were a company that is involved in shipping goods between the islands, I'd be taking a hard look."

Reach Greg Wiles at gwiles@honoluluadvertiser.com.