USNS ''Guam'' (T-HST-1), formerly

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 ''Huakai'', is a

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 ...

high-speed transport vessel. The ship was completed in September 2008 and was intended to start Hawaiian service in May 2009, though delivery postponements saw that planned service canceled. In the

Hawaiian language Hawaiian (', ) is a Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language o ...

, ''huakai'' means "journey". The design of the is 70 percent in common with the Hawaii Superferries, both built by Austal USA.

Vessel

USNS ''Guam'' was built as ''Huakai'', whose name is based on the

word ''huakai'', which means "journey". 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 ship. The vessel was originally built for

, and has a capacity of 866 passengers and up to 282 subcompact cars. It is longer than its

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

, , due to a bi-fold ramp installed on the stern of the ship. The vessel featured environmentally friendly technologies including non-toxic bottom paint, zero wastewater discharge and clean diesel engines. Austal USA, a subsidiary of Austal, an Australian company that is the world's largest builder of fast ferries, built ''Huakai''. Construction on ''Huakai'' began in 2007 in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

. The ship was intended to enter service in 2009, but due to the abrupt shut down of Hawaii Superferry, the ship was laid up. ''Alakai'' also returned to the Alabama ship yard. On July 2, 2009, Hawaii Superferry decided to abandon ''Huakai'' and ''Alakai''.

Service history

In January 2010, the United States Maritime Administration announced that ''Huakai'' and ''Alakai'' would be used to assist with relief in the

2010 Haiti earthquake A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, 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), Ouest department, a ...

. On September 13, 2010, ''Huakai'' and ''Alakai'' were auctioned off, for $25 million each, by the

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

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. 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 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 these unique operational requirements without the need to build new vessels. In May 2012, The Navy has announced that both ''Alakai'' and ''Huakai'' have been renamed. ''Alakai'' was renamed and ''Huakai'' became ''Guam''. ''Guam'' was modified to replace the chartered in

in March 2013, and ''Puerto Rico'' remained laid up until 2016.

References

External links

Hawaii Superferry’s Bankruptcy = US Navy Opportunity
��Defense Industry Daily {{DEFAULTSORT:Guam (T-HST-1) Ferries of Hawaii High-speed craft 2008 ships High speed vessels of the United States Navy Military catamarans