Molokai Times
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
By Kate Gardiner
A presentation by the Department of Transportation Harbors Division finally made it to Molokai last Tuesday.
Three members of Molokai's Governor's Community Advisory Council heard a short presentation on the condition of the harbors throughout the state.
As that plan affected little of Molokai's industry, the focus of conversation shifted to the current impasse between the federal government's Transportation Workers Identity Card program and the Molokai small business community.
The program would require federally-issued TWIC cards for any person regularly picking up goods from the Kaunakakai Wharf. Persons without the cards must be escorted by a TWIC-carrying employee. The Coast Guard would prefer that employee be the designee of Young Brothers, however the practical limitations of hiring persons whose job consists wholly of escorting and observing cargo removal are immediately apparent to both Young Brothers and small business owners.
Deputy director for the Harbors division of the Department of Transportation Michael Formby said the inter-island shipper Young Brothers is trying to work with the U.S. Coast Guard to accommodate the consumers before September, when the TWIC implementation plan is supposed to go into effect.
"It's a tough challenge for them. They can try to carve out an area, but it's hard to do," said Formby.
About the TWICs themselves, Formby said, "[The Transportation Security Administration] says they're coming to Molokai for three days to take applications, then a day to pick up and distribute the cards. The big obstacle is [going to be that they] have to go to the Coast Guard for help."
Council member Kammy Purdy questioned how Young Brothers would handle the occasional user. "What about the resident that every once and awhile ships items? Do they have to get a card? Do you have to have a commercial business to pursue a card?"
Formby replied, "There's a disconnect between the industry and the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard says those cards are for transportation workers only, for frequent visitors, not just everybody. They're looking for a way to restrict TWIC users. They expect Young Brothers to escort you, and provide that service. Young Brothers is trying to figure out how to do that."
Sen. Kalani English, who wrote to the federal government encouraging the Molokai visits, said that he had not yet been briefed on the topic, but that he expected to hear from the agencies involved with details soon.
In the meantime, Formby said that inter-island freight users are up 30 percent since 2001. Due to the cruise ships newly-instituted 'American Flag' rule, which would require cruise ships to visit a foreign port for 48 hours if they originally embark from a U.S. port. If the measure is implemented, ships that would otherwise be visiting Hawaii would be required to spend more than 24 hours in a foreign port for every two days spent in a U.S. port. This means that the 'Mexico loophole' would be closed, and ships that would otherwise be spending time, and money, in Hawaii's ports, likely would not continue to do so.
It is very likely only one ship currently visiting Hawaii will continue to cruise the islands, as it is American-owned. The federal limitation was imposed to protect U.S.-flagged ships in Hawaii, which are at a competitive disadvantage due to U.S. taxes and labor laws.
Planning for changes to Kahului Harbor are based on a Harbors Master Plan that offers several options; an environmental impact statement for the project is still open for public comment. The community chose an option, said Formby, which would separate passenger traffic from cargo, moving passengers to the developing West Harbor.
All of these changes would be funded by an increase in per-container tariffs, totaling about $842 million, or 10 percent per container. Formby said that for dense-packed cargo items, this would ultimately cost only cents-per-item for the consumer.
The next meeting of the Governor's Council will take place April 8, 3 p.m. at Kulana 'Oiwi.
Original article URL: http://www.molokaitimes.com/articles/8318194258.asp