HI Superferry: Excellent Logistical Articles

There are some excellent articles here getting into some good logistical details. Superferry references are included in red:

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080429/NEWS01/304300006
Posted on: Tuesday, April 29, 2008
"Hawaii loses 85% of air cargo capability"
By Rick Daysog Advertiser Staff Writer

"...Aloha abruptly closed its profitable air freight business yesterday after its lender, GMAC Commercial Finance LLC, cut off financing...The impact will be felt by retailers and wholesalers of time-sensitive consumer items such as baked goods, produce, meat, medical supplies, newspapers, auto parts and construction materials. The move also will affect movement of interisland mail and the flow of cash between local banks and their Neighbor Island branches...

James Wagner, Jupiter's attorney, said the company was prepared to go through with its purchase as recently as yesterday afternoon. But GMAC unexpectedly upped the price to $15 million and required a higher deposit, he said..."This all has to do with other parties changing the deal without any warning," Wagner said. "I've been in practice over 30 years and I've never seen a case end like this."

...Paul Brewbaker, chief economist at the Bank of Hawaii, said it may be some time before competing carriers and cargo operators fill the void left by Aloha. 'This is huge,' said Brewbaker. 'I don't doubt that somebody will come in and fill the void but in the short-term, anyone who wants to go to market is hung up.' Aloha used six Boeing 737-200 planes solely for interisland cargo."

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080429/NEWS01/804290363
Posted on: Tuesday, April 29, 2008
"Neighbor Isle businesses worried about impact;
Now, farmers, grocers are uncertain who will carry perishable items"
By Christie Wilson, Diana Leone and Kevin Dayton Advertiser Neighbor Island reporters

"Neighbor Island farmers and grocers who depended on Aloha Airlines cargo to either fly out or fly in perishable items say they will be badly hurt by the carrier's closing...

Owner Teena Rasmussen, who runs the 30-year-old business with her husband, Craig, said the farm sends out 30,000 to 40,000 tuberoses, orchids, carnations and other flowers a week. "You've got to be kidding," she said, upon hearing the news of Aloha cargo's shutdown...
Aloha offered nighttime cargo flights and daily office hours at its cargo site at Kahului Airport, conveniences not offered by Hawaiian, Rasmussen said. "The problem to me is that Hawaiian doesn't have the staffing in its cargo offices to handle the volume, and they don't run night freighters or have hours seven days a week," she said...

The Hawaii Superferry is not an option for Paradise Flower Farms because drivers are required to accompany their delivery trucks and the Maui farm does not have its own delivery system on the other islands. In addition, the Superferry so far only serves Maui and O'ahu, and the farm has customers on Kaua'i and the Big Island.

Aloha cargo's shutdown also hurts grocers who were flying in fruit and vegetables from O'ahu.
Esaki's Produce on Kaua'i typically flies in produce daily from Honolulu, said general manager Earl Kashiwagi. "This week, we had no guarantees they were flying after Sunday.
"We'll have to switch some things from air to barge," he said, and since the Young Brothers barges arrive on Kaua'i on Tuesdays and Fridays, "it's the middle of the week that will be pilikia." "The chefs will have to plan," Kashiwagi said. With air cargo shipments, "they can order stuff right now (in late afternoon) and get it tomorrow morning." Before the late 1980s, there was no air cargo service to Kaua'i, he recalled. "Before the governor does anything else, I'd think they'd see if they can get a third barge in," Kashiwagi said.

Even if the Superferry were running to Kaua'i, it wouldn't be a viable alternative for Esaki's Produce, Kashiwagi said, because Esaki's delivery trucks aren't large enough to handle the amount of produce needed. "Plus we'd have to have somebody onboard (Superferry) to drive the truck, a guy that's not going to get seasick," he added.

At least one Big Island farmer saw trouble brewing and shifted his Aloha cargo shipments to barge last week. Hamakua farmer Richard Ha ships several million pounds of tomatoes a year plus cucumbers and other vegetables from his Hamakua Springs County Farms. Some crops came to O'ahu by barge, and other shipments went to Maui on Aloha's cargo jets. Last week, Ha stopped using Aloha, opting instead to send two shipments a week by barge...

Kaua'i florist and flower grower Haunani Pacheco said she worries that her business, Hawaiian Paradise Flowers, might have to pay up to four times what it had paid Aloha for weekly air cargo shipments from the Big Island...Even if another air carrier comes into the market, they are likely to charge higher prices, Pacheco said. She said she has reduced the number of anthuriums, orchids and other tropical flowers she grows on her Kaua'i farm because flying them from Hilo has been cheaper. It would take her about a year to resume larger flower crops on Kaua'i, she said. In the meantime, she'll have to ship with FedEx or UPS at higher prices and without the refrigeration offered by Aloha, Pacheco said. She said the Superferry wouldn't help. Since her flower sources are on Maui and the Big Island, two ferry trips without refrigeration just wouldn't work, she said.

Bob Williams, president of the Hawai'i Island Chamber of Commerce, said Big Island farmers who ship fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers to O'ahu stores and restaurants will be most affected..."

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080429/NEWS01/804290359
Posted on: Tuesday, April 29, 2008
"Hawaii bakery ships interisland via L.A."
By Greg Wiles Advertiser Staff Writer

"Love's Bakery, thrown into a tailspin by the sudden shutdown of Aloha Airlines' cargo unit, is going the distance to make sure its customers on the Big Island and Kaua'i get their baked goods. After learning that Aloha wouldn't be flying cargo last night and not having other options for interisland cargo flights, Love's made arrangements with Surefire Consulting to ship the baked goods on flights to Los Angeles where they could be loaded back on to other commercial passenger planes headed directly to Neighbor Island airports...

Love's was Aloha's biggest customer, shipping an average of 36,000 pounds of baked goods daily. Aloha also carried the bulk of mail sent between the Big Island, Maui and Honolulu. Another smaller carrier also delivers mail, including to Kaua'i. Late yesterday the U.S. Postal Service said it was hoping to put its emergency plans into place seamlessly so that customers would not notice a service disruption...

Suzuki said while Hawaiian Airlines is being eyed as a possible solution, its Boeing 717 passenger jets can only carry a limited amount of freight and shippers need to pass a security check. Hawaiian is also operating a larger Boeing 767 for Maui flights, but it is unknown how long the carrier will continue to schedule that flight and its added cargo capacity, Suzuki said...

Suzuki said yesterday Hawaiian Airlines stopped accepting cargo before 7 p.m. and that he was wondering what to do with a 300-pound pallet of freight for the Big Island. Among his ideas was a solution similar to Love's — sending the shipment to the West Coast on United Airlines where it could be loaded onto the carrier's flight to Kona...

Suzuki said a trucking company was making plans to start shipping four 40-foot containers each day on the Superferry and pledging to have Maui deliveries done on a same-day basis.

While there was much focus on Honolulu shippers getting cargo to Neighbor Island customers, there also were questions about how Hawai'i's cut flower and ornamental plants business would fare with shipments into O'ahu. Similarly, Neighbor Island growers of fruits and vegetables availed themselves of Aloha's overnight flights to get their produce to Honolulu...

Watanabe Floral, one of the state's bigger floral businesses, said it uses Hawaiian for shipments of roses from its Big Island farm...

At Big Island-based Pacific Floral Exchange, that meant putting more shipments on to direct flights to the Mainland, even if it entailed trucking the flowers to Kona so they could be sent out.

...Inouye, who ships about 10,000 pounds of flowers and plants weekly, said he needs to get products to customers within two days, whether that be in Honolulu or somewhere on the Mainland. Therefore, using interisland barge service provided by Young Brothers Ltd. wouldn't suffice, he said.

Love's has been looking at Young Brothers for its Big Island and Kaua'i shipments as part of its contingency planning. It had begun shipping its goods to Maui on the Superferry on Sunday.

...Walters said he and his staff were planning to brainstorm through the night at Love's Middle Street facility to come up with ideas for the shipments. Neighbor Island goods are roughly one-third of what it produces daily. 'We will entertain anything to take care of our customers,' said Walters, who has been in the bakery business for 36 years. 'I've dealt with a lot of strike situations, I've been sent to 10 different states to help out with strikes, but nothing as catastrophic as this.'"

http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/503149.html?nav=10
"Aloha scraps cargo division"
The Maui News and The Associated Press
POSTED: April 29, 2008

"KAHULUI — At Kahului Airport on Monday evening, Kula farmer Chauncey Monden picked up 70 cases of strawberries committed to a Times Supermarket sale on Oahu and wondered how he’d be able to get the fragile produce to the market...“They’re (berries) committed to Honolulu. I’m sure we can market them here, but if we’ve committed to deliver them to Honolulu, I have to see how to get them there.”

...Aloha’s cargo division transported a wide variety of items, including all mail to and from Maui and the Big Island, as well as produce and fresh flowers...

Maui County Mayor Charmaine Tavares...‘‘Many small businesses, such as farmers with perishable cargo, rely on transporting their goods via air carriers.’’

Maui Farm Bureau President Warren Watanabe agreed, saying a lot of Maui-grown produce and flowers are marketed on other islands, and farmers relied on Aloha’s overnight cargo flights to transport the perishable products. Watanabe grows specialty lettuce in association with Nalo Farms on Oahu, which promotes fresh local produce for top Hawaii restaurants, but his shipments are not as large or as frequent as those of other farmers.

Paradise Flower Farms is one of the bigger shippers, with co-owner Teena Rasmussen noting that the business had negotiated a special rate with Aloha because of its six-days-a-week volume. On Monday, she said a shipment to Oahu arrived, but a portion of the shipment destined for Kauai was stranded at the Honolulu Airport cargo section. “First thing in the morning, I’ve got to see what I can do, and hope Hawaiian can carry it,” she said. For Hawaii flower shippers, she said, Hawaiian Airlines may be the only realistic option because flowers need the refrigerated storage that only Aloha and Hawaiian have at interisland cargo terminals. “Hawaiian may be the only option. I hope they can step up and fulfill the need for all of the businesses. I hope they can gear up their cargo service quickly,” she said.

Monden said the Hawaii Superferry is not an immediate option because he would need to have a second truck and driver to make deliveries and spend the night on Oahu. As with other farmers, he also needs to make deliveries to other islands as well. The Superferry operates a round trip only between Oahu and Maui, and requires a driver to accompany any vehicles..."

Aloha, Brad