Hawaii’s SuperFerry was expected to make a splash with inter island transport service. The splash had little to do with service and more to do with politics and special interests.
The promise of the SuperFerry was to lower costs for people and vehicles traveling between Hawaii’s islands. Based on the rising cost of fuel, the added per-passenger and vehicle surcharges, and reduced-fare competition between the local airlines, and SuperFerry has become a super bust. An expensive super bust.
The arguments proposed by various special interest groups to prohibit SuperFerry service in Hawaii are interesting, if not somewhat malformed.
For example, groups on Kauai and Maui complained about additional vehicular traffic brought by SuperFerry’s ability to transport cars and trucks from island to island. The math doesn’t add up. If 250 cars and trucks leave Oahu for Kauai, Kauai gets 250 new vehicles on their roads, courtesy of SuperFerry. An hour later, when SuperFerry returns to Oahu, 250 different cars and trucks would leave Kauai. The number of vehicles on Kauai would stay about the same, so the argument appears moot.
Hawaii’s Supreme Court says the State needs to develop an environmental impact statement regarding SuperFerry’s service. No doubt there will be some kind of impact to Hawaii’s oceans and harbors, but no such study or statement is required on any other commercial, private, or public transport from Oahu to Maui and Kauai. Do other ships not have an impact on Hawaii’s oceans and harbors?
Increasingly, SuperFerry is the splash heard around the world. What remains to be seen is the effects of the splash. If the SuperFerry sinks then a lot of people will get wet.
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