Governor Linda Lingle was “off the mark and unrealistic” when she blamed the business community’s supposed lack of support for the demise of the Superferry, according to an editorial in the current print edition of Pacific Business News.
Instead, PBN went back to fundamentals and questioned the whole Superferry business plan.
Putting aside state officials’ blunder in reasoning that the Superferry didn’t need an environmental assessment, we are not convinced that there was enough passenger, vehicle and freight revenue to cover the cost of running two big ships.
In its brief time in service, the ferry showed it was unreliable and that the trip to Maui produced a nightmare of seasickness. Small businesses found it still made more sense to put their goods on a barge than to commit a driver and truck to an all-day run to or from Oahu.
Unfortunately, the full editorial is available online only to PBN subscribers.
PBN’s editorial followed an earlier blast from Lingle’s home base in Maui Country, where a Maui News editorial put the blame right back on the Lingle administration’s blunders, calling the rest “sour grapes”.
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Love it man, “off the mark and unrealistic.”
The prevous commentor estimated the costs of operating the ferry service months and months ago. He also calculated a “barf index” that was pretty good at translating surf forecasts into a prediction of discomfort in the channels.
Where was PBN then? If the ferry could not cover its fuel costs it was not a viable business.
Now, if PBN and the commercial media would review theories that HSF existed for a larger purpose than to provide passenger service in Hawaii, they might catch up to the news more quickly.