County ports closed as Hurricane Lane approaches

Some commercial passenger vessel operators cry foul

With Hurricane Lane approaching Maui County, oceangoing vessels have been ordered out of Kahului, Kaumalapau and Kaunakakai harbors to safeguard the state's "critical lifelines," according to a harbormaster notice issued this week.

"Upon the direction of the United States Coast Guard and State of Hawaii, vessels must leave our harbors so we can properly protect our piers and ensure vessels have a safe port to which they can return and begin to supply our state as quickly as possible following a heavy weather event," says the notice signed Tuesday by Maui District Harbors Manager and Harbormaster Duane Kim.

"Every resident and visitor relies on our harbors to deliver essential supplies, with Kahului, Kaumalapau and Kaunakakai harbors being our only commercial ports for each island on Maui, Lanai and Molokai, respectively," the notice says. "In order to protect our most crucial asset, our ports, it is incumbent upon each harbor user to do their part in protecting our infrastructure."

Failure to comply with the harbor closure could result in fines and penalties.

The U.S. Coast Guard wants vessels larger than 200 gross tons to ride out the storm at sea, concerned about damage and pollution if such a large vessel in a "worst case" sinks in a protected harbor and prevents other vessels from coming in and out, said Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Amanda Levasseur on Thursday afternoon. Smaller vessels come under the authority of the state Department of Transportation, she said.

But the closure has some commercial boat operators crying foul, saying the notice gave them only a couple of days' warning and they're being left to fend for themselves in open water or at Maalaea or Lahaina small-boat harbors. Those facilities are "very vulnerable" to the wave surge expected when Lane passes by, they said.

One of the commercial boat operators is Phillip Kasper, who owns the Quicksilver, a 55-foot, double-decker aluminum catamaran. The vessel is certified for 149 passengers and a crew of eight. It takes passengers out on dinner cruises and snorkel tours of Lanai, Kasper said.

The Quicksilver is normally berthed at Lahaina Harbor, but it's crowded and deemed unsafe for the massive swells expected from Hurricane Lane, he said.

Not long ago, "boats were thrown up on a loading dock . . . and that was just from a big south swell," Kasper said. Lane was forecast to generate 20-foot swells.

When he was denied entrance to Kahului Harbor, Kasper had the Quicksilver taken to Maalaea Harbor, which is safer than Lahaina, he said, but still vulnerable.

After speaking with other commercial boat operators, Kasper estimated there were 10 to 20 other commercial boats that wanted the safety of Kahului Harbor but were turned down, including vessels with Lahaina Cruise Co. and the Pacific Whale Foundation.

Kasper said that, in the past, Kahului Harbor was "always open" for refuge from a storm or hurricane. He said he brought his boat there for safe harbor during Hurricane Iniki in September 1992.

Coast Guard vessels from Maalaea were allowed to move to Kahului Harbor this week, he said.

The state's move to block commercial boat refuge in Kahului Harbor came abruptly, he said, without giving operators a chance to make arrangements for safe harbor on another island and without allowing them input on the decision.

He said he found it "cynical and unconscionable for government agencies to behave this way."

Kahului Harbor is large enough to handle other boats without interfering with commercial trade traffic, Kasper said.

Instead, the harbor is "100 percent closed," he said. "It's outrageous in my opinion."

Kim told The Maui News early Thursday afternoon that the "whole port is closed" at Kahului.

Kahului Harbor was open during earlier storms because it had calm waters, he said. But, with "this particular storm," there's a forecast of tropical storm-force and possibly hurricane-force winds.

And, with such a storm, the risk of damage to harbor facilities is too high, he said. "We cannot take that chance."

Toni Marie Davis, executive director of the Activities & Attractions Association of Hawaii, which represents commercial boat operators among other businesses, said there's not a very clear procedure how to transfer vessels from a small-boat harbor managed by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to a Department of Transportation harbor.

"I'm hoping that, once the storm is over, there can be some kind of discussion about a procedure," she said.

She said she believed a "nonsensitive area" could be found at Kahului Harbor to shelter commercial passenger vessels from the storm without risking damage or interference with areas of the harbor used by Matson and Young Brothers.

In the case of Hurricane Lane, Kahului Harbor would be in the lee of the storm and thus a "much safer harbor" than Maalaea or Lahaina, she said.

"There's a real threat that storm surge and high tide will damage boats," she said. But, as of Thursday afternoon, "there's not enough time to make it right."

* Brian Perry can be reached at bperry@mauinews.com.