Maui harbor plans pared as ships leave

Friday, May 23, 2008
Pacific Business News (Honolulu)
by Chad Blair

The departure of two NCL America cruise ships from Hawaii waters this year has led the state to significantly scale back plans for improvements to Kahului Harbor on Maui.

The Legislature this session approved an $842 million Harbors Modernization Plan, a six-year schedule of upgrading and expanding Hawaii's six major commercial harbors.

The initial allocation of $345 million for Kahului is now $202 million.

No one is complaining. The departure of the two cruise ships is freeing up acres of space and reducing traffic in the state's most cramped and overcrowded commercial port.

With the Pride of Aloha and Pride of Hawaii no longer in operation locally, harbor officials say there is no longer a pressing demand for a new breakwater, cruise terminal and ferry and barge slip on the west side of the harbor basin.

"When NCL made the decision to redeploy two of its three vessels, the need for all of those harbor improvements changed," said Mike Formby, deputy director of harbors for the state Department of Transportation.

The decision to reduce Kahului's share of state funds by $143 million was made in consultation with the Hawaii Harbor Users Group.

HHUG is a group of businesses and stakeholders that includes shipping companies, cruise lines, Hawaii Superferry, stevedoring firms and other waterfront interests.

"NCL used to have a ship in almost every day and some overnighted," said Gary North, a former senior vice president for Matson Navigation Co. who remains chairman of HHUG. "When it had three ships, NCL was berthed at Kahului for almost the entire week."

Should NCL decide to reverse course and bring back a vessel, or if some of its five foreign-flagged competitors decide to increase their local presence, the state could revisit the Kahului plan. But there has been no indication that will happen any time soon.

Alan Yamamoto, NCL America's vice president for Hawaii operations, told PBN: "This decision will not impact NCL operations and we will continue to use Pier 1 for our weekly port calls."

Plans for Kahului Harbor's east side, where most commercial activity occurs, remain on schedule.

They include a new breakwater, upgrades to Pier 1's fuel line, strengthening of Pier 2B, acquisition of additional property, and paving and fencing of existing property.

The statewide total for harbor improvements in the first fiscal year, which begins July 1, is $124 million. Kahului's first-year appropriation, originally $34.5 million, is now $28.5 million.

Kahului Harbor -- the state's third-busiest port and the busiest Neighbor Island commercial harbor -- has long suffered from overcrowding. Maui also is the only major island with only one commercial harbor.

North said Pier 1, where NCL's Pride of America ties up, is now available for more efficient use by oil barges.

Like the cruise ships, oil barges require deep draft pier accommodations.

Currently, the oil barges have been sailing first to the Hilo and Kawaihae harbors on the Big Island to unload fuel. That makes the load lighter for the Kahului stop on the return trip to Oahu.

The West Harbor area, home to Pier 5, also will receive some improvements. The leveling, paving and fencing of yard space, currently used as a coral stockpile, will allow Matson, Young Brothers and Pasha Hawaii Transport Lines to store autos, cargo and oversized equipment.

Formby and North hope the West Harbor space will relieve congestion on East Harbor facilities, especially with the Superferry adding a second Oahu-Maui run earlier this month.

"It takes up a lot of real estate," North said of the Superferry. "But as far as Matson is concerned, if for some reason there is a space constriction, we can always stack our containers. So, for next three to five years, we can handle a Matson ship and an oil barge at Pier 1."

The scaling back of plans for Kahului Harbor is welcomed by Maui residents who had worried harbor expansion would hamper recreational use.

"We are relieved," said Karen Chun of the advocacy group Save Kahului Harbor. "We are hopeful that [Formby] is restoring common sense and responsiveness to community input in the D.O.T. planning process."

The Kahului changes are covered in a 2030 master plan that required an environmental impact statement and extensive community involvement.

"It's a surprise turn of events, but at least it makes sense," said Irene Bowie, executive director of another advocacy group, Maui Tomorrow. "But the changes don't rule out west side expansion. We are hoping that we can continue to show that paddlers, surfers and fishermen are using this space consistently."

Dick Mayer, a retired Maui Community College economics professor, said consumers will ultimately benefit from the decision to reduce the scope of the project. The $840 million in harbor improvements mostly will be paid through increases in harbor-user fees.

"They realized they would not get paid-back funding from cruise ships and that there's uncertainty about the Superferry's future as a revenue source. Which means you have to transfer costs to Young Brothers and oil tankers, and that would be passed on to the general public," Mayer said. "Since harbor funding is statewide, not island by island, that means Oahu people would be paying for a pier and terminal and breakwater that we would not need."