Underwater: State’s Costs of Hawai‘i Superferry Total $71 Million

From Hawaii State Auditor, Report 17-07, July, 2017 

The Hawai‘i Superferry stopped its operations on March 19, 2009, over 8 years ago; yet, the State continues to pay costs it incurred for support of Hawai‘i Superferry operations—and will continue to pay those costs until 2028.

Last year, the Legislature appropriated $50,000 to the Hawai‘i Department of Transportation (DOT) to study the feasibility of establishing an interisland and intra-island ferry system. DOT received an additional $500,000 for the study from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration.

As DOT considers the feasibility of another interisland ferry system, this report updates the total costs the State incurred—and taxpayers are still paying—to support Hawai‘i Superferry operations. The costs we report herein are from DOT’s financial accounting records. We did not independently verify the costs or test the department’s accounting of those costs. Costs and other expenditures that other state agencies incurred or that DOT did not directly attribute to the Hawai‘i Superferry or its operations are not included in our calculation of the total costs incurred by the State. For example, the costs we report do not include personnel costs, such as the salaries of DOT and other State officials and employees whose responsibilities involved Hawai‘i Superferry’s operations, the attorney’s fees and other costs relating to the legal actions against the State, or the costs associated with the 2007 Special Session of the Legislature....

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