STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1626

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.C.R. No. 221

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation and Government Operations, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 221 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO UPDATE THE HAWAII COMMERCIAL HARBORS 2020 MASTER PLAN,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to request the Department of Transportation (DOT) to update the Hawaii Commercial Harbors 2020 Master Plan.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation (DOT), ILWU Local 142, Young Brothers Limited, Matson Navigation Company, and The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii. Comments were received from the Hawaii Community Development Authority.

The DOT has jurisdiction over Hawaii's commercial harbors pursuant to section 266-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which provides in part that the DOT has control and management responsibility for commercial harbor and waterfront improvements. In 1995, the DOT prepared an Hawaii Commercial Harbors 2020 Master Plan, designed to improve and update the State's harbor system with a focus primarily on Honolulu Harbor to meet the anticipated growth and demand over the ensuing twenty-five years.

Your Committee believes that one of the challenges facing Hawaii's shipping industry is the State's limited facilities and space, with a finite amount of space and facilities working beyond capacity. Without expansion and improvement of Hawaii's harbors, particularly Honolulu Harbor, the State's shipping industry will suffer and decline. Hawaii's shipping industry is effectively the State's life-sustaining enterprise.

Accordingly, the Hawaii Commercial Harbors 2020 Master Plan should be updated to accommodate new demands being placed on commercial harbors in Honolulu and on each Neighbor Island.

Hawaii's economic sustainability is dependent upon the effectiveness and efficiency of the harbor system, as well as the availability of sufficient cargo and container facilities. Harbors on Oahu are extremely busy, and the DOT must accommodate harbor uses for not only cargo activity, but also commercial activity, cruise ships, and potential ferry service as well. These new and competing uses for maritime space have created a cargo space crisis in Honolulu Harbor, which is exacerbated by the fact that prior planning studies did not anticipate harbor uses at these current levels.

Pier 1 and Pier 2 are both under the jurisdiction of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, and recent suggestions have indicated that both piers should be transferred to the DOT's jurisdiction to address the cargo space crisis. However, opposing views suggest that the transfer may not resolve the cargo space crisis, and will also compromise the State's ability to implement its Kakaako community development plan. Your Committee recognizes the importance of both the cargo space crisis and the community development plan, and recommends that a comprehensive study for all maritime areas on Oahu, including fast and submerged lands, as well as the timely implementation of the plan, is necessary to address the cargo space crisis without jeopardizing the community development plan.

A centralized statewide cargo and passenger ship arrival and departure scheduling system would improve the efficiency of ship movements among the harbors of the State. The harbors at Honolulu, Nawiliwili, Lahaina, Kahului, Kona, and Hilo each act as a port facility for passenger cruise ships as well as for cargo ships.

Your Committee recognizes that there will always be a dual demand in the foreseeable future for cargo as well as passenger port facilities at all of the State's harbors. The problem is that each harbor currently handles its own ship movement scheduling and there is no centralized system coordinating ship departures and arrivals statewide.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Adding the provisions of S.C.R. No. 136, to request a comprehensive study of current and anticipated harbor uses on Oahu to improve harbor efficiency and effectiveness, and S.C.R. No. 158, to request the DOT to establish a centralized statewide cargo and passenger ship arrival and departure scheduling system to coordinate and improve the efficiency of ship movements among the harbors of the State. All three measures are closely related; and

(2) Making clarifying amendments to S.C.R. No. 221, as proposed by the Hawaii Community Development Authority, to stress the crowded conditions of the harbors.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation and Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 221, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 221, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and Government Operations,

____________________________

LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair