Hawaii Superferry Suspends All Service

Sounds to me as if the island to island airline hopping is getting greedy!!  Do you think that has anything to do with it?

Personally, I like the idea of aferry going from island to island.

I think its a great idea and very inexpensive. Ofcourse legalities have to come into play like always. Nothing can ever just run smoothly. Typical.

There is much more to this story than just another way to travel interisland.  Here is part of the rest of the story.  The owners of the Superferry proceeded to launch without doing an Environmental Impact study to assess the impact it would have on the islands—even though the members of this community requested it over and over.  They also hurried to get service started early, even after they knew they were going to be asked to halt it, due to the court injunction that forced them to halt service.  They figured it would be harder to get them to stop, once they were started. 

HI has a very fragile eco-system, and there are invasive species that are currently isolated to other islands that could potentially be brought over on the cars.  The humpback whales that are breeding here during the winter time area also at great risk, with a vessel that travels at such high speeds.  Other vessels are required to cut their engines within 100 yards of a whale, from December to May—they are protected.  There is no way the ferry traveling at such high speeds could stop that quickly.  Not to mention, the impact on the infrastructure!  The harbor cannot not handle the amount of vessels currently needing to dock.  The intersection where the ferry unloads goes into gridlock with the influx of 300 additional cars.  The native recreational groups, outrigger canoe clubs, that use the harbor, have been forced out.  They are no longer allowed to hold regatta races, and if they happen to be in the canoes while the ferry is loading, they have to sit in the channel and wait to return to the harbor until the ferry is loaded!  Unbelievable!

If you truly want to follow this story check out the Maui News.  Although a seemingly inexpensive way to travel between islands…at what greater expense?

I would like to vist the Great State of Hawaii and it’s islands. It seems there are people are getting upset by dealing with the past. The Super Ferry people it seems did not do their homework on the other hand.

It is ironic that there is some major problems there in Hawaii when it comes to transportation. It seems the only way to go from island to island is by plane and if you are realy lucky or daring you can have your own boat.

There must be compomise in this situation. It’s there. We as humans can never go back to the past but remember it. There is always the future yet people want to stay in the past or the preset.

The ferry service is a great thing for Hawaii & it’s people. To be able to travel between islands with your car is wonderful.

Don’t think the ferry will interfere with the whales on any great scope.

What made the locals protest? Is there a lot of damage that this ferry can do? Why is it such a bad thing?