Planner: Kahului Harbor is not enough

The Maui News
Thursday, November 16, 2006
By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer

KAHULUI - When the public at large got its first chance to offer suggestions for the next Kahului Harbor master plan, the state was told to expand its horizons - to plan not just for the island's only commercial port but for maritime needs generally.

That notion was endorsed by county Planning Director Mike Foley, who came out of a meeting with harbor users with the conviction that there is no way Kahului Harbor, by itself, can meet all the demands on it - for cargo ships and barges, for cruise ships, for interisland ferries, for recreation, for small boats, for fuel imports and storage.

About two dozen people attended a "scoping meeting" for the 2030 master plan environmental impact study Monday night at Lihikai School.

The 2030 plan "is really an update to the one that is currently on the books," said Barry Fukunaga, deputy director for harbors of the state Department of Transportation.

It is not meant to replace but to supplement the projects wished for in the 2025 master plan, which was adopted in 2000.

DOT has made a rough forecast of what it thinks the demands on Kahului Harbor will be:

- Seven berths of various lengths for vessels hauling containers, vehicles, general cargo, dry bulk and liquid bulk cargos. Total length necessary: 3,300 feet of docking space, plus about 60 acres for shoreside support, although not all the space needs to be in proximity of the dock.

- Two berths for cruise ships, each about 1,000 feet long, with space for terminals and traffic circulation.

- One berth for the Hawaii Superferry, with about four acres for traffic and handling.

Those are just the commercial needs. The harbor was built for commerce, but it is also an important recreational site for canoe paddling, surfing and launching recreational boats.

There is a ramp for trailer boats, most of which are used for commercial fishing, but including small boats on runs along Maui's north shore. Two hotels crowd one section of the harbor shoreline, while Hoaloha Park provides space for two outrigger canoe clubs.

There was some concern about undershooting on demand. At the last master plan update, the Hawaii Superferry wasn't in the picture. It has since come to dominate discussions about the near future of the harbor.

John Kirkpatrick of Belt Collins, the firm hired to prepare the EIS, sketched out the physical resources available:

- Three piers, one for oceangoing ships, one for fuel barges and one for interisland barges and the Superferry.

- The west breakwater, currently serving as a trailer boat ramp.

- The adjacent shoreline areas just outside the breakwaters, called for convenience the "new west harbor" and the "new east harbor."

By any measure, the harbor is already full.

Harbormaster Steve Pfister did not speak Monday, but he has described in the past how difficult it is to find berths for all the kinds of vessels that need to come in. These include a daily cruise ship, interisland container-vehicle barges at least three times a week, fuel barges once a week or so, regular calls by oceangoing vessels like Pasha Hawaii's MV Jean Anne and Matson Navigation's Great Land, and occasional calls by ships bringing in tinplate and coal and carrying out sugar.

The harbor is so busy that sometimes a vessel of low priority (say, a barge with cement) that is already tied up has to move out to make way for one with a higher priority load (like aviation fuel).

On Monday morning, a lengthy meeting with users resulted in presentation of five different, sometimes mutually exclusive proposals for rebuilding the harbor. That meeting "severely challenged some of our assumptions," said Kirkpatrick.

He declined to specify the challenges, because the purpose of a scoping meeting is to take in ideas from the community, not to present plans for a project.

Foley, responding to a question on Tuesday, said it became clear to him that some other place besides Kahului for commercial marine traffic is going to have to be found. He ticked off locations that have been proposed in the past: from north to south, Mala, Lahaina, Olowalu, Maalaea and Kihei. All have been rejected for environmental reasons or because of opposition of residents of the affected areas.

Some earlier ideas for relieving pressure at Kahului have included an offshore station for landing fuel at Maalaea, which would be convenient to Maui Electric Co.'s power plant, a big consumer; and more offshore anchorages off Lahaina for cruise ships, which would require expanded landing space at Lahaina Small Boat Harbor.

Besides already established uses of Kahului Harbor, Dennis Niles proposed a new one that does not exist on the island: a haul-out and shipyard for large tour boats.

The bigger boats now go to Honolulu or the Big Island for annual inspections and maintenance.

Fred Ruge said the state has a window of opportunity with Sen. Daniel Inouye about to assume chairmanship of a money-distributing committee in Congress.

He advocated moving the Kahului Wastewater Treatment Plant inland and extending the harbor east to the plant site.

Warren Shibuya said the cargo and passenger area is already "woefully undersized." He proposed enlarging the cargo area to accommodate larger vessels, which could move four containers at a time, instead of one. That would require deepening the Pier One berths.

Shibuya also recommended moving cruise, ferry and tour boat operations to the west breakwater. Other speakers also said that Kahului Beach Road would better accommodate road traffic than Kaahumanu Avenue and Hana Highway, the outlets for harbor traffic now.

Lucienne de Naie, speaking for the Sierra Club Maui, asked that the plan "result in a walking waterfront." Cruise passengers walking around today are "taking their lives in their hands," she said.

She also asked that the plan be cognizant of the ecologically sensitive Kanaha Pond Wildlife Refuge.

Jim Takayesu, a paddler, said he is concerned about the impacts on Young Brothers, saying the barge operation is "definitely essential to the economy of Maui."

But he also said the state's planning should not delay implementation of improvements.

"Sometimes I think these plans are just a way to justify not doing things," he said.

The meeting was attended by Maggie Blum, the associate administrator for port, intermodal and environmental activities for the federal Maritime Administration. MARAD will be the receiving agency for comments on a draft environmental impact statement.

A second public meeting on the EIS will be held, probably early in 2007. Written comments can be submitted by Nov. 30, online at http://dts.dot.gov, noting that the comment is on docket MARAD-2006-26228; or by sending a letter to Docket No. MARAD-2006-26228, Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh St. SW, Nassif Building, Room PL-401, Washington, D.C. 20590-001.

Questions can be e-mailed to jkirkpatrick@beltcollins.com.