''HST-2'', formerly named USNS ''Puerto Rico'' and ''Alakai'', is a vessel owned by the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
Military Sealift Command. She was originally
Hawaii Superferry
Hawaii Superferry was a Hawaii-based transportation company that provided passenger and vehicle transportation between Honolulu Harbor on the island of Oahu and Kahului Harbor on Maui. Legal issues over environmental impact statements and prot ...
's first high-speed
ferry. The vessel was later chartered by
Bay Ferries Limited
Bay Ferries Limited, or simply, Bay Ferries, is a ferry company operating in eastern Canada and is headquartered in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. It is a subsidiary of Northumberland Ferries Limited and a sister company to the defu ...
to operate a ferry service between
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
and
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
Yarmouth is a town in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. A port town, industries include fishing, and tourism. It is the terminus of a ferry service to Bar Harbor, Maine, run by Bay Ferries.
History
Originally inhabited by the Mi'kmaq, the regi ...
.
The design of the is similar to the two high-speed ferries operated by Hawaii Superferry, both built by
Austal USA
Austal USA is an American shipbuilder based on Blakeley Island in Mobile, Alabama. It is a subsidiary of the Australian shipbuilder Austal, operating under a Special Security Arrangement which allows it to work independently and separately on ...
.
Vessel
''HST-2'' was built as ''Alakai'', which means "sea path" in the
Hawaiian language. The vessel is a long high-speed
roll-on/roll-off
Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...
(Ro/Ro) passenger and vehicle ferry. She used to operate a daily service operated by Hawaii Superferry at a speed of between the islands of
Oahu
Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O ...
and
Maui. ''HST-2'' has a capacity of 866 passengers and up to 282 subcompact cars. Alternately, its vehicle decks can be reconfigured in five minutes to carry up to 20 large trucks and 90 cars.
Like her
sister ship (formerly ''Huakai''), the vessel features environmentally friendly technologies including non-toxic bottom paint, zero wastewater discharge and clean
diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
s.
Hawaii Superferry's vessels were designed and built by
Austal USA
Austal USA is an American shipbuilder based on Blakeley Island in Mobile, Alabama. It is a subsidiary of the Australian shipbuilder Austal, operating under a Special Security Arrangement which allows it to work independently and separately on ...
, a subsidiary of
Austal
Austal is an Australian-based global ship building company and defence prime contractor that specialises in the design, construction and support of defence and commercial vessels. Austal's product range includes naval vessels, high-speed passeng ...
, an Australian company that is the world's largest builder of fast ferries. Construction on ''HST-2'' began in June 2004 in
Mobile, Alabama. The ship was
launched in January 2007, christened in April 2007 and
sea trial
A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...
s went smoothly.
Starting service
The vessel arrived as ''Alakai'' in
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...
on June 30, 2007, with a celebration, after a smooth 17-day delivery voyage. The ship's maiden voyage was on August 26, 2007, and the trip to Maui was smooth. The voyage to
Kauai was rougher and ''Alakai'' was met by about a dozen protestors on surfboards blockading the entrance to
Nawiliwili Harbor
Nawiliwili Beach Park is a beach park and port on the south-east coast of the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands.
It is located on Nāwiliwili Bay at , about south of Līhue. It is at the south end of Hawaii Route 51, known as Rice Street. J ...
. The protestors were peacefully cleared by the
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...
.
2008 dry dock
On February 13, 2008, ''Alakai'' went into dry dock to make repairs to her auxiliary rudders that were damaged in late January. The dry docking was extended due to hull damage caused when a
tugboat
A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...
moving ''Alakai'' into
dry dock lost power and collided heavily with the catamaran. ''Alakai'' returned to service in early April 2008 shortly after
Aloha Airlines
Aloha Airlines was an American airline headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, operating from a hub at Honolulu International Airport (now Daniel K. Inouye International Airport). Operations began on July 26, 1946, and ceased operations on March 3 ...
ended service. Before resuming service the ship went through sea trials and was re-certified by the Coast Guard.
2009 shut down
On March 17, 2009, after about 11 months in service, the
Hawaii Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Hawaii is the highest court of the State of Hawaii in the United States. Its decisions are binding on all other courts of the Hawaii State Judiciary. The principal purpose of the Supreme Court is to review the decisions of ...
ruled that the legislation permitting ''Alakai'' to operate without an environmental review was unconstitutional. Hawaii Superferry made one last round trip to allow an orderly return of passengers who were not on their home island. They canceled existing reservations and did not take new reservations. The Superferry company intended to look for other work for ''Alakai''; it had also left open the possibility of bringing the ferry back into service if and when Hawaii completed an environmental review, but the company decided to abandon the vessel ending all possibilities of returning to Hawaii.
In January 2010, the
United States Maritime Administration
The United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) is an agency of the United States Department of Transportation. MARAD administers financial programs to develop, promote, and operate the U.S. Maritime Service and the U.S. Merchant Marine. Det ...
announced that ''Huakai'' and ''Alakai'' would be used to assist with relief in the
2010 Haiti earthquake
A catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest department, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's c ...
.
Navy acquisition and name change
On September 13, 2010, ''Huakai'' and ''Alakai'' were auctioned off, for $25 million each, by the
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. They were purchased by the
U.S. Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...
's
Maritime Administration Maritime administrations, or flag state administrations, are the executive arms/state bodies of each government responsible for carrying out the shipping responsibilities of the state, and are tasked to administer national shipping and boating issue ...
.
On January 27, 2012, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration transferred two high speed vessels, ''Huakai'' and ''Alakai'', to the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
under the Defense Authorization Act of 2012. The Navy had planned to use the vessels to transport troops and equipment to training areas from
Okinawa
is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi).
Naha is the capital and largest city ...
and other locations, helping the Navy meet the unique operational requirements without the need to build new vessels.
In May 2012, the Navy announced that both ''Alakai'' and ''Huakai'' had been renamed. ''Alakai'' was to be named USNS ''Puerto Rico'' and ''Huakai'' was to be named . ''Guam'' was modified to replace the chartered in Okinawa in March 2013, and ''Puerto Rico'' remained laid up until 2016.
On August 19, 2012, ''HST-2'' (then USNS ''Puerto Rico'') was towed from
Norfolk, Virginia to
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, to keep it safe from
hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
s while future uses for the vessel were being evaluated.
On February 5, 2016, the U.S. Secretary of the Navy removed the name ''Puerto Rico'' from the vessel.
The name ''Puerto Rico'' was subsequently reassigned to on December 14, 2016.
Austal USA shifted its entire effort after 2009 to U.S. Navy construction of the similar
Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSVs) and 12
Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs) with the experience building the high speed ferries as a feature in winning those contracts.
Gulf of Maine ferry service
On March 24, 2016,
Bay Ferries Limited
Bay Ferries Limited, or simply, Bay Ferries, is a ferry company operating in eastern Canada and is headquartered in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. It is a subsidiary of Northumberland Ferries Limited and a sister company to the defu ...
announced that it had reached an agreement with the U.S. Maritime Administration and the U.S. Navy for a multi-year
charter of ''HST-2''. The vessel would be operated for a passenger/vehicle ferry service in the
Gulf of Maine
, image =
, alt =
, caption =
, image_bathymetry = GulfofMaine2.jpg
, alt_bathymetry =
, caption_bathymetry = Major features of the Gulf of Maine
, location = Northeast coast of the ...
between
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...
and
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
Yarmouth is a town in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. A port town, industries include fishing, and tourism. It is the terminus of a ferry service to Bar Harbor, Maine, run by Bay Ferries.
History
Originally inhabited by the Mi'kmaq, the regi ...
and retain the name ''HST-2'', but the service and vessel would be branded as ''The CAT'' to align with previous branding used when Bay Ferries operated a high-speed passenger/vehicle ferry on the same route six years prior.
The vessel underwent a refit at a shipyard in
South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
and the service started on June 15, 2016.
At the end of the 2018 season, it was announced that the ferry would be departing from the town of
Bar Harbor
Bar Harbor is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. During the summer and fall seasons, it is a popular tourist destination and, until a catastrophic fire ...
, rather than Portland.
Service along this new route was originally expected to begin in summer 2019, but was delayed due to construction work at the Bar Harbor marina.
Service was then canceled during both the 2020 and 2021 seasons due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. After three years out of port, ''The CAT'' returned to sail from Yarmouth on May 19, 2022, providing service to
Bar Harbor, Maine for the first time in 13 years.
References
External links
Official site of The CatHawaii Superferry’s Bankruptcy = US Navy OpportunityDefense Industry Daily
Alakai: Hawaii says aloha to fast ferryTour of the Alakai
{{DEFAULTSORT:HST-2
Ferries of Hawaii
High-speed craft
2007 ships
High speed vessels of the United States Navy
Military catamarans