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CG ready to protect Superferry, should it sail

As Hawaii courts debate the future of the inter-island Superferry, the Coast Guard has adapted its deployment schedule to ensure it has enough assets to protect the Superferry should the 350-foot passenger vessel sail anytime soon.

According to a Sept. 24 Associated Press report, the Coast Guard canceled a planned month-long deployment by the 225-foot seagoing buoy tender Kukui so it would be available for Superferry security.

The Kukui crew had been slated to conduct a cleanup of marine debris in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, supporting an ongoing effort by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“For operational reasons, we won’t discuss why that deployment was canceled,” said Public Affairs Spc. 3 Michael De Nyse. “But we are doing that deployment twice next year.”

Coast Guard spokesman Lt. John Titchen told the AP that the decision was made because the ship might have been needed to provide security for a planned Sept. 26 trip from Oahu to Kauai by the Superferry.

But the company that runs the service, Hawaii Superferry, announced Sept. 21 that it scrubbed the trip and delayed resumption of service “to an unspecified future date.”

The Superferry has only made one trip to Kauai — a trip on Aug. 26 that ended in a standoff between ferry operators and protestors who took to the water to block its path in Kauai’s Nawiliwili Harbor.

The ferry is being challenged by some Kauai residents who say the vessel and its cargo pose a threat to wildlife on the island and in the marine environment.

During the ferry’s only trip, Coast Guard forces attempted to enforce a 100-yard security zone around the ship. The Superferry eventually arrived at its pier hours late.

On Sept. 20, Coast Guard 14th District Commander Rear Adm. Sally Brice-O’Hara was booed as she joined Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle at a public hearing in Kauai on the Superferry.

Dennis Chun, a professor of Hawaiian studies at Kauai Community College who was in the water on his surfboard Aug. 26, said he feels Kauai residents were never included in discussions regarding the inter-island service.

He said public hearings should continue and environmental impact studies must be completed before the ferry becomes operational.

“The people should have been involved. It should have been a collaborative effort,” Chun said.

The Hawaii Superferry Alakai is a 350-foot catamaran built by Austral USA of Mobile, Ala. It is designed to carry up to 866 passengers and 282 cars.