Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Superferry: For Cheaper Inner-Island Transportation


The Superferry is one of the greatest things to ever hit Hawaii. The ferry is going to be four stories high and feature a cafe. The ferry has been in-development for about 3 years. The President of the Superferry, John Garibaldi, visited the vessel when it was still in the ship yard shed but now has seen it during its christening. This thing will cost as little as $42. The car fees will begin at $55 and commercial trucks will be paying as much as $1,050.

Another thing about the ferry is, even though it's great in so many ways it is also very open to anybody. People are worried that it will kill Humpback Whales, bring in criminals, and introduce invasive plants & animal species to parts of Hawaii that have so far avoided problems. On August 26th, the ship set sail to Kahului, Maui and when it docked in Maui there were protesters waiting for them. But that was nothing compared to what happened in Kauai. When the ship got there it was stopped at the entrence of the dock by three dozen surfers. It took the U.S. Coast Guard about 90 minutes to get all of them out of the way.

The company that runs the Superferry has stopped all the services in Kauai due to the protesters. The vessel is operating from Oahu to Maui and there will be a separate ferry for the Big Island to go to the other islands but that isn't until 2009.

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