Thanks to the Hawaii Superferry unofficial blog for flagging a very revealing interview with the CEO of Austal, the company that built the Superferry ships.
In this interview, CEO Bob Browning describes the Superferry deal as “very unusual”. Austal, an Australian company, was looking to compete for U.S. military contracts, but needed a shipyard in the U.S. to get around restrictions of the Jones Act.
So they pumped money into the Superferry and contracted to build the two ships, which in turn gave Austal the resources to develop its shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, “which then allowed us to win the Joint High Speed Vessel program which is a very close derivative to that hull form.”
So the Superferry venture was essential, from Austal’s point of view, a way to leverage its investment with a federal loan guarantee (and all those commitments from Gov. Lingle and the legislature) to eventually land the long-term multi-ship military contract.
Hawaii was just a very unusual but ultimately convenient step in their business plan.
Very interesting!
Let’s see. There was another round of layoffs at the San Diego Union Tribune earlier this month, according to several published reports, including stories in Editor & Publisher and the North County Times in San Diego.
Star-Bulletin owner David Black is the newspaper guy in the investment hui that now owns the paper.
A Bedbug Summit? That’s what the Seattle Times reported this week. It seems bedbugs have reemerged as a significant problem after being largely eliminated. Worth reading so that you can recognize these little critters.
A friend and former neighbor recommends a lengthy NY Times Magazine story from Afghanistan, Karzai in his Labyrinth.
Bob says:
a long article
sometimes tedious
but worth the read
it certainly makes you look at the headlines from a different angle
Agreed.
Mr. Silverman makes a couple of appearances in this week’s Feline Friday photo gallery. This former stray is now a pampered senior who happily spends his nights safely indoors, far from the rough and tumble world he used to wander in. He seems pleased with the transition.
Do click on Silverman’s photo for this week’s batch of pictures.
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
i always look forward to feline friday.
Bedbugs are already a problem in Hawaii. My mother’s retirement community had an outbreak. It is hard to know exactly how they arrive and people often destroy or throw out good mattresses and other furniture in a hasty effort to contiain their spread. Some pest services have containers you can fill with your belongings and gas with appropriate pesticides to kill the critters. That’s MUCH cheaper than replacing your furniture.
An alternative, is to wrap furniture in black plastic and place it outside in the sun, preferably on a hot surface. A few hours in the sun should raise the temperature enough to kill the bugs without poisons.
“Google is your friend!” Don’t throw out good furniture in a panic!”