HI Superferry: Smor-gas-bord 4/25/08

There is so much stuff out there, I can't blog it all. Recently I have been doing more comments on other people's blogs. So here is some of that:

1.) From the LA Times yesterday, http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/?p=1755, be sure to read down through the comments, they include one from "Tig Krekel Says: April 24th, 2008 at 12:21 pm Jeff is completely wrong on passenger count...over the next 4 days alone, we will have more than 1500 riders...Regards, Tig Krekel HSF Lead Director" Check out the other comments too. ;)

Was thinking some more about that “1500 over 4 days.” Actually, that is only an average of 188 people per one-way trip or 375 per round-trip and an estimated 63 vehicles per one-way trip or 125 per round-trip. That daily average would probably NOT cover just their fuel expenses. Those numbers are only slightly more than what we have been counting recently.

Considering that an extended (two week) Japanese visitors Golden Week is kicking in beginning today and that HSF’s best customer appears to be Roberts Hawaii, I might have expected more bookings of Japanese visitors on HSF during the next couple weeks, esp. since Japanese visitors were using Aloha Air quite a bit in the past. Roberts also appears to be monitoring the forecasted transit conditions as they have not been seen on “rough” days. Nevertheless, today, Sat., and Sun. will be calm days for them to do better.

2.) HSF might also get a cargo bump if Aloha Cargo pilots go on strike soon. See: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Apr/24/ln/hawaii804240371.html "Aloha pilots sanction walkout" By Rod Ohira, April 24, 2008. "Aloha Airlines pilots last night voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike of the carrier's cargo operations. No strike date was set. 'It means should we need to strike, we will,' said John Riddle, a 23-year Aloha pilot and member of the union's master executive committee."

3.) THE radio interview was mentioned in a Honolulu Advertiser reporter's blog at: http://capitolnotebook.honadvblogs.com/2008/04/22/guerrila-radio/, check out the comments.

4.) Disappeared News has a good link to the audio of that KKCR radio interview of the two former Austal welders at: http://disappearednews.com/2008/04/second-program-on-alleged-superferry.html. The two welders are Carolyn Slay who worked on the Alakai and Wayne Jenkins who worked on the sister ship currently being built. Carolyn Slay has the additional recently filed federal lawsuit along with 21 other plaintiffs: Adams et al v. Austal, U.S.A., L.L.C. Case Number: 1:2008cv00155: http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-alsdce/case_no-1:2008cv00155/case_id-42983/.

5.) Lastly for now, the New York Times had a good article today on a related story, "Lesson on How Not to Build a Navy Ship" by Philip Taubman, April 25, 2008: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/25/us/25ship.html?th&emc=th.

Amazing how some aspects of this story can be covered by a small radio station on an island, then the largest state newspaper...in a blog, then the largest west coast newspaper...in a blog, and finally the east coast newspaper of record all in a little more than a week, but the more shocking aspects of the story still not be reported to the public, except by little radio station in a Garden Isle paradise.

Aloha, Brad