Two former Hawaii Superferry catamarans added to Navy fleet

摘要

The U.S. Navy has added two ferries from the defunct Hawaii inter-island service to its heavy sealift fleet.The Navy paid $35 million to the U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd) for Alakai and Huakai, formerly owned by Hawaii Superferry Inc., and will likely add them to its growing fleet of high-speed sealift vessels available for fast response with the military or disaster relief. The deal was completed in January.MarAd had supported the original $178 million cost of the ferries with a loan guarantee of almost $140 million. When Hawaii Superferry went bankrupt, the federal government became responsible for repaying the balance of about $135 million.