Navy gets OK to buy two Hawaiian superferries

NORFOLK

Congress has given the Navy the green light to spend up to $35 million to acquire two Hawaiian superferries from the U.S. Maritime Administration.

A provision in the recently approved defense authorization bill will allow the transfer of the Huakai and the Alakai to the Navy, where they will become Department of Defense sealift vessels.

The Navy declined to discuss the matter on Thursday because President Barack Obama had not yet signed the bill.

"The Navy does not comment on pending legislation," said Lt. j.g. Lauryn Dempsey, a spokeswoman.

No date for the transfer has been set, said Cheron Wicker, a Maritime Administration spokeswoman, in an email.

The ferries are docked at Lamberts Point in Norfolk, where they have been in financial limbo for roughly 2-1/2 years.

The Navy has been interested in the vessels since July 2009, after a bankruptcy judge ruled that the owner - Hawaii Superferry Inc. - could abandon them to lenders, who at the time were owed nearly $159 million.

The administration, which guaranteed the loans, moved them to Norfolk, where it bought the vessels at an auction on Sept. 30, 2010, on the steps of Norfolk's federal courthouse.

Built to move cars and people among the islands of Hawaii, the ferries can cruise at 35 knots. Between 320 and 340 feet long, they each can carry 836 passengers and 282 cars.

One of the ferries, the Huakai, was used in the military's relief efforts after the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010.

In June, the Maritime Administration put the two vessels up for sale on an "as is, where is" basis and eventually received four bids.

In September, the administration said it was "working expeditiously with bidders and other interested parties in evaluating its options, with a goal of maximizing the government's return from these vessels."

Robert McCabe, (757) 446-2327, robert.mccabe@pilotonline.com