San Diego Company Wins Contract for Hawaiian Islands Ferry Service

A San Diego company hopes profits from its commercial island boat service will offset expected losses in its Oahu ferry service.

“There’s no money to be made in public transportation at $2.50 a fare,” Ted Gurnee, president and chief executive officer of San Diego Shipbuilding & Repair Inc., said Wednesday. “So we are counting on and hoping that we’ll make money on the commercial side as opposed to the public side.”

Gurnee attended a news conference called by Hawaii Transportation Director Edward Hirata to announce that the state had awarded Gurnee’s company a 20-year contract to run the ferry system.

“Mr. Gurnee and his company will construct, operate and maintain the ferries at no cost to the state,” Hirata said. “In fact, they will be paying us $7,200 over the next eight years.”

“Right now, we’re targeting (ferry) service to start in late 1990,” Hirata said.

The commercial inter-island service linking Oahu with Maui and Kauai will use 350-passenger boats, Gurnee said, adding that fares will be less than airline prices.

The Oahu-Maui run will take about 90 minutes, the Oahu-Kauai run about two hours, Gurnee said.

To begin with, there will be a maximum of two runs each to Maui and Kauai on weekdays and four on weekends, scheduled between Oahu’s morning and evening rush hours, he said.

San Diego Shipbuilding & Repair will make the 115-foot boats, which ride on a cushion of air and reach a speed of 50 knots. The boats are powered by water jet propulsion, which Gurnee said is safer for marine life than standard propellers.

The company will also operate rush-hour ferry service between points on Oahu, with fares of $2.50 for Hawaii residents and $5 for others. “We wanted to make sure that we didn’t have tourists during that commuter period,” Hirata said in explaining the fare difference.

Gurnee’s company predicts that there will be 10 to 14 days a year when bad weather will make it impractical to operate. Although he said the boats can operate in virtually all types of bad weather encountered in Hawaii, the problem will be with the riders.

“I don’t think they’ll want to be on the vessel in 5- to 10-foot seas,” he said.