Aloha Hawaiians, I have some questions on car transportation between islands: How easy or difficult is it to transport your car between islands? Frequency, duration? Are the ramps onto the barges friendly to low-slung Ferraris? Do you put the car on yourself or does some vallet / barge-driver put the car on and off for you? What"s the latest buzz on the Superferry? Is it dead forever or are people getting their act together? Mahalo!
Google "Young Brothers" for interisland vehicle transportation info. The site answers most of your questions, and there's contact info for those it doesn't answer. I'm afraid Glassman is right about the Superferry: kaputt.
I've shipped a number of exotics (Ferrari & Lambo) from Oahu to the neighbor islands via Young Bros. 1. Young Bros. does not have a "valet" service nor do they afford exotics any special treatment. Be as involved as possible with the loading and unloading of your car! 2. Normally, a low-slung car is placed on a steel pallet and secured by straps (which you must supply). The pallets are very narrow, with a lip that is just waiting to take a chunk out of your expensive rims. You'll have to drive the car on the pallet yourself, using ramps, and also secure the straps at each wheel. Bring rags/towels to protect the rims from the straps. 3. Most of the barges are open air so the cars are subject to salt spray. A good wax job before shipment and a world-class wash job after are a must. If using a car cover, make sure it can withstand wind speeds of up to at least 35 mph. 4. Maximum one-quarter tank of gas, all ownership/registration papers in order, etc. Call Young Bros. for current requirements. Always a nail-biter shipping cars inter-island. Expect the worse and be involved to prevent problems.
Young Bros is the only game in town here in the Peoples Republic of Hawaii. Superferry is "pau", (over), not "pow". I've had good results shipping cars interisland, but get involved and don't pi** anyone off...
Now dont forget the Young Blooders 100% guarantee. You ship your car with us Bra and we guarantee git most alla parts back to you brudda. (unless my kuzzin kimo need um then your insurance company will buy new ones for ya)
Hawaii is the only place in the US where I don't even bother filing a freight damage claim. It would be a total waste of time.
I'm not going to badmouth YB. They are the only game in town and we have no choice but to use them... I like to have all my stuff arrive on top of the barge, not under it...
I've had YB ship 4 vehicles from Honolulu to Kona or Hilo with no damage to any of them. Maybe I'm just lucky.
So was it Young Brothers or the Hawaiian Sovereignty/Hippie protesters that really killed the Super Ferry? Any way to appease those groups to get such a service rolling/floating again? Would the Super Ferry have survived if it was run/owned by Young Brothers? I sort of miss the Hawaiin politics.
Plenty of entities were happy to see the Superferry fail: YB, the airlines, the rental car companies, and the unions associated with them. Then of course you have the environmental activists who were concerned the Superferry would run over whales, pollute the waters, and so on. Not to mention the usual suspects viscerally and vociferously opposed to progress of any kind. Add into that the utter fecklessness of state government (the legislature passed a law stating the Superferry could operate without an evnvironmental impact assessment; the state supreme court declared it unconstitutional) and the stage was set for an unhappy outcome.
Try to remember that Liberals,and environmentalists are not necessarily Hippies. I'm a very old hippie, and the Superferry was very much appreciated by me. I also like whales. Its hard to live on the islands and not get a real sense of nature. But I think a whale is smart enough to get out of the way of a a big boat.
It is a shame. I was able to sneak my POV on to the barge when we had field exercises at PTA on the Big Island. Was nice to have the opportunity to explore at my own pace without worrying about rental fees, etc. Hopefully one day someone will try again
