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The Superferry business model probably assumed heavy losses for at least the first 3 years of operation. It takes time to build a customer base and I can't imagine a scenario where they thought they could be profitable for at least years. The timing also sucked since Hawaii was also in the recession - visitor numbers just plain sucked when they launched - it would've been a different story today now that we are in the 4th year of record tourism.
For instance, lets say you are an airline based in Honolulu - and you want to start flying to a new market like Shanghai. You know that for at least 2 years that route won't make any money - but eventually due to market awareness, advertising, promotions, you eventually turn that into a profitable business.
LOL.
LOL.
Sorry had to contain myself there.
I'm pretty darn sure the SF had PLENTY of news coverage and marketing. You would have to have been LITERALLY living under a rock to not know about the SF by the time it launched its service. Heck, even $29 fares couldn't get the ship at a dismal 30% capacity. $29!!!! That's two plate lunches nowadays. Freaking hilarious.
And it's no wonder why - 1 in 3 people became nauseated on the trip. And 1 in 5 actually vomited - some throughout the ENTIRE trip. It's basically a 50/50 chance someone sitting next to you is going to puke their lunch out. And this was an average trip (average winds, average seas); some passengers complained as many as HALF the passengers were puking their brains out on choppy days. Do you think maybe, just MAYBE that could deter a lot of people from wanting to ride the "Stand By Me Pie Eating Contest Ship"? Did I mention this horrific/disgusting experience lasts THREE HOURS LONG? Yikes.
The puke-fest ship doesn't stop its wonderful marketing capabilities there... it gets even better.
HUNDREDS of people were left stranded on islands because of TYPICAL HAWAII WEATHER. Kids, you're gonna miss school tomorrow - YAY!!!!!!!! And mommy and daddy will miss work too so we can't afford that new Playstation for Christmas. BOOOOOOOOO.
Never mind the environmental impacts this dreadful ship imparts on our island's fragile ecosystem and mammalian sea life. Never mind the absolute gross misuse and waste of fossil fuels (FOUR TIMES MORE fuel as a passenger jet per passenger mile). Never mind the complete lack of respect and f u attitude to those rural community residents that want to KEEP THEIR COMMUNITIES RURAL. Never mind hard working taxpayers will have to foot 50-75% of the fare for nothing but CONVENIENCE and a small savings on a rental car.
Never mind all of that. The ship is doomed simply because it's not marketable. Nobody wants to puke or sit next to people that puke. Nobody wants to take the chance of being stranded with their kids, belongings and car on another island when they need to be back home.
The government nor the "environuts" had nothing to do with the SF's demise. The concept is failed from day one. It's not amazing the general public would support this - they would screw the environment and rural residents as long as they could pack their fishing poles in their trucks and scoot conveniently to another rock. It's the way our society has become. Thank you to all those that had enough decency and common sense to stop this atrocious joke of a concept. Good riddance.
Heck, even $29 fares couldn't get the ship at a dismal 30% capacity. $29!!!!
And it's no wonder why - 1 in 3 people became nauseated on the trip. And 1 in 5 actually vomited - some throughout the ENTIRE trip. It's basically a 50/50 chance someone sitting next to you is going to puke their lunch out. And this was an average trip (average winds, average seas); some passengers complained as many as HALF the passengers were puking their brains out on choppy days.
I'd be interested in seeing the data on that - can you share, thanks.
Despite computer-controlled stabilizers and other features designed to smooth the 349-foot-long Alakai's ride, rough winter seas have forced the Superferry to cancel trips 11 days in less than two months. That's far more than the 2% cancellation rate officials had planned, and roiling conditions have helped earn the vessel a nickname: "the barf barge."
Meanwhile, the Alakai has attracted an average of 162 passengers a trip vs. its planned ridership of 410. It has tried to boost sales by dropping a fuel surcharge and extending a promotional rate of $39 a passenger plus tax, one way. By contrast, a half-hour flight between Honolulu and Kahului costs $55, one way.
The SuperFerry itself touted a "low" 1 in 3 people could suffer from nausea when riding the ship. It was on their website or affiliate site a while back. And the 1 in 5 number for vomiting is EXTREMELY low (anecdotally from passengers that actually rode it, it's much much higher). Read some of the reviews from those that actually road the ship. For some (and on rough days) it's literally the pie eating contest on Stand By Me. DISGUSTING.
25% capacity during winter months when the most people travel and are on vacation, particularly here in Hawaii.
The highest consecutive 3 month period of highest visitor arrivals is June-July-August and July specifically historically being the highest month. Hawaii is a family destination, arrivals always spike when the kids are out of school, summer and holidays. Furthermore, when the Superferry was in action - visitor arrivals are not anywhere near where they are at today when we were in a deep recession.
29% occupancy from reading the story doesn't sound like they were surprised - unless you are privy to the business plan - that might've been the target. Quite frankly, if they were selling less than cost - it probably was good for them to have a ship go out less full - less full means less fuel.
I took 1 round trip on the ferry (did you) - I thought it was fun and didn't see anyone get sick on my trip.
During the time of the Superferry we had three airlines: Aloha, Hawaiian and Go! which drove down the price point to about $50. Now that both Aloha and Go are out of the business prices are much higher at about $120 per way up to over $200 during peak hours.
Lots of different topics in this thread, I'll start with barges and passenger barges.
Current cargo barges are operated by Matson and Young brothers to all 4 main islands (not sure about Molokai and Lanai). They are unpowered and I believe unmanned barges pulled by an ocean-going tug. I'm not sure why they use barges over cargo ships, but they are smaller, more maneuverable, and maybe they allow an empty barge to be loaded on Oahu while the previous barge goes to-from each island.
I do know that on Kauai, and I imagine each neighbor island, the barge arrives full, gets unloaded, gets reloaded with a few cars and probably mostly empty containers, and then sails back, usually on the same day. Given their speed and the distance, I bet they take 10-12 hours between islands.
I've never heard of containers falling off a barge or of the whole barge sinking in Hawaii, I'd be interested if you have news of any accidents in the past. I know such accidents have happened elsewhere in the world, but it is rare and again, I haven't heard of it in Hawaii.
There are problems with passenger+cargo service. First is they'd have to buy new (or used) ships, because the current tugs and barges have no accommodations. Second is that passenger service has many more regulations, so it's a whole different business. The shippers are good at what they do, partly because they don't have to deal with passengers--cargo is a messy and noisy business. Plus the boats are slow, and who is willing to spend 10 hours to save $20?
What it boils down to is that shipping vehicles around is very inefficient (as somebody pointed out above). You can move a vehicle efficiently as cargo, but not as convenient roll-on-roll-off with passengers. Yet, Matson charges $200-300 to move a car interisland on the barge (which covers their cost of equipment, personnel, fuel, time, etc. Any ferry company will have similar overhead, maybe some efficiencies at loading-unloading, but on the order of magnitude of $100 I bet--about the same cost as renting a car.
And for moving just people around, airplanes are very efficient, and so very competitively priced. In the end it is just so much more convenient to get on a 30 minute flight and take another 30 minutes to rent a car, and not that much more expensive.
Having read the Supreme Court Appeal - I think the Superferry could've survived if they wrote the legislation correctly that allowed it to operate - it came down to less of an issue of the Environmental report than the legislation was considered "special" law rather than "general" law - also interesting, the appeal was by Sierra Club, a California organization.
The Sierra club is a national organization, and in Hawaii, it has a locally organized chapter with an internally elected board. It also has local groups representing local members in every Hawaii county. I don't have numbers, but there are easily several thousand Sierra Club members on every island (except Kauai which probably has under a thousand). So the legal and monetary resources of the national club were supporting the position of its local members.
Also, most of the investment in the ferry (around $100 million) came from out of state. I'm not sure why investment dollars should be different from opposition dollars.
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