Report Title:

Wharfage Rates

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

157

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

Requesting the department of transportation to determine the revenues required to meet its obligations for all harbors, wharves, and its other properties, and to adjust wharfage rates whereby the same wharfage rates will apply to interisland and intraisland cargoes that cross over wharves the same number of times.

 

 

WHEREAS, the Department of Transportation (DOT) is authorized under section 266-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), to fix and regulate rates and charges for wharfage, subject to all applicable provisions of the law for cargo passing over and across wharves; and

WHEREAS, DOT is required to fix rates and fees to produce revenues sufficient to meet certain obligations, including:

(1) Payment of principal and interest on all applicable bonds and other obligations;

(2) Expenses of harbor operations and maintenance; and

(3) Reimbursement to the State general fund for all general obligation bond requirements for harbor and wharf improvements;

and

WHEREAS, incoming domestic overseas and foreign overseas cargo transshipment to the Neighbor Islands via Honolulu on a through bill of lading are not subject to outgoing interisland wharfage charges, while other domestic overseas and foreign cargo bound for the Neighbor Islands that must be stored, repackaged, or processed in Honolulu before being shipped, are subject to outgoing wharfage charges, even though both cargoes cross over the wharves the same number of times; and

WHEREAS, the waiving of outgoing interisland wharfage charges for transshipped cargo on a through bill of lading discriminates against local merchants and manufacturers who must store, repackage, or process the goods that they ship in from domestic or foreign ports before shipping them to the Neighbor Islands, placing them at a competitive disadvantage with mainland concerns who are not charged the outgoing interisland wharfage when their cargo is transshipped in Honolulu; and

WHEREAS, cargo shipped to the Neighbor Islands after a stop in Honolulu bears a disproportionately larger share of the cost recovery intended to be accomplished by the wharfage fees, thus subsidizing cargo moved by interstate and foreign carriers; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, that DOT is requested to:

(1) Determine the revenues required to meet its obligations for all harbors, wharves, and its other properties; and

(2) Adjust wharfage rates whereby the same wharfage rates will apply to interisland and intraisland cargo that cross over wharves the same number of times;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that DOT adopt wharfage rates by rules, pursuant to chapter 91, HRS; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and the Director of Transportation.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________