Post by ferryfast admin on Oct 12, 2007 11:07:35 GMT -5
Hawaii is Not a High Speed Ferry Pioneer
By Jim Sharp, Guest
As Published on Hawaii Reporter
www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?7037f5fb-c616-4779-8fad-b760de318406
10/11/2007 8:51:00 AM
Next month, my wife and I are cashing in some frequent flyer miles and taking our granddaughter to Europe for an adventure.
To hold down the cost, we plan to take a ferry from the continent to England. The best price was $50 one way for the three of us including the car. That compares to $450 that it would have cost the three of us to fly. I “Googled” “English Channel Ferry” and was astounded at the results. Take a look at just this one Web site www.eurodrive.co.uk/
First, not surprisingly, I got the same encouragement that the Hawaii Superferry has given Hawaii residents… To pack up the car with family and camping gear and take an affordable family holiday. But I guess that’s just common sense advice.
What amazed and overwhelmed me was that there are over 31 Ferry routes serving England with a total of more than 10 different Ferry operators to choose from. To narrow it down, I picked the shortest route -- Calais France to Dover England. Then I randomly looked at one operator -- P&O Ferries. This one operator has voyages every half hour, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. That’s a total of 48 daily voyages for just this operator on just this route.
Imagine how many voyages take place every day for the entire 10 operators for all 31 routes …. It must be 1,000 or more every day. That’s more voyages every single day than the Hawaii Superferry would take to Maui in three full years. Many of the vessels look and operate just like our “judiciary defined,” new, untested Superferry. The waters in the English Channel contain marine life not unlike our channels. But their ferries don’t seem to have a problem avoiding the marine life, even though the shipping traffic is more than 1,000 times Hawaii’s.
The Pacific Northwest has similar high speed ferries operating from Seattle, Vancouver, and Victoria all the way to Alaska. They operate in waters filled with whales, dolphins and seals, again with no problems. In fact many of the same whales that winter in Hawaii, spend the summer months coexisting with these ferries in Alaska. We have taken several family holidays there and enjoyed the adventure.
It is a terrible shame that a vocal, bullying minority, together with a spineless judge is keeping Hawaii from technology used for decades throughout the rest of the world. No wonder we look like fools to the rest of the world.
Jim Sharp is a resident of Hawaii Kai. Reach him at: mailto:sharpaloha@hotmail.com
By Jim Sharp, Guest
As Published on Hawaii Reporter
www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?7037f5fb-c616-4779-8fad-b760de318406
10/11/2007 8:51:00 AM
Next month, my wife and I are cashing in some frequent flyer miles and taking our granddaughter to Europe for an adventure.
To hold down the cost, we plan to take a ferry from the continent to England. The best price was $50 one way for the three of us including the car. That compares to $450 that it would have cost the three of us to fly. I “Googled” “English Channel Ferry” and was astounded at the results. Take a look at just this one Web site www.eurodrive.co.uk/
First, not surprisingly, I got the same encouragement that the Hawaii Superferry has given Hawaii residents… To pack up the car with family and camping gear and take an affordable family holiday. But I guess that’s just common sense advice.
What amazed and overwhelmed me was that there are over 31 Ferry routes serving England with a total of more than 10 different Ferry operators to choose from. To narrow it down, I picked the shortest route -- Calais France to Dover England. Then I randomly looked at one operator -- P&O Ferries. This one operator has voyages every half hour, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. That’s a total of 48 daily voyages for just this operator on just this route.
Imagine how many voyages take place every day for the entire 10 operators for all 31 routes …. It must be 1,000 or more every day. That’s more voyages every single day than the Hawaii Superferry would take to Maui in three full years. Many of the vessels look and operate just like our “judiciary defined,” new, untested Superferry. The waters in the English Channel contain marine life not unlike our channels. But their ferries don’t seem to have a problem avoiding the marine life, even though the shipping traffic is more than 1,000 times Hawaii’s.
The Pacific Northwest has similar high speed ferries operating from Seattle, Vancouver, and Victoria all the way to Alaska. They operate in waters filled with whales, dolphins and seals, again with no problems. In fact many of the same whales that winter in Hawaii, spend the summer months coexisting with these ferries in Alaska. We have taken several family holidays there and enjoyed the adventure.
It is a terrible shame that a vocal, bullying minority, together with a spineless judge is keeping Hawaii from technology used for decades throughout the rest of the world. No wonder we look like fools to the rest of the world.
Jim Sharp is a resident of Hawaii Kai. Reach him at: mailto:sharpaloha@hotmail.com