Young Brothers squares off against yet another competitor - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

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It also promises to be one of the most politicalluy chargedfights — involving officials, businesses and communitg activists — since the clashews over the Hawaii Superferry. Young Brothers says Pasha’sw proposal to compete directly at ports in Hilo and Kahului willhave “a significant negativee impact” on Young Brothers and “thd regulated intrastate shipping industry as a whole.
” But Pasha (pronounce PAY-sha), a California-based carrier that shipas autos, military and construction equipment from San Dieglo to Oahu, Maui and the Big says interisland customers want a With its business primarily coming from shippinbg cars to and from the and with Hawaii auto sales down 30 Pasha also seeks new While the brief entry of the Superferru into the profitable Oahu-to-Maui run did only negligible damage to Youngb Brothers’ bottom line, it drew attention to the company’s dominance of the interisland cargio business and encouraged calls for more competition.
By playinb the competition-means-better-rates-and-service card, Pasha has receivedd the supportof Gov. Linda Lingle, House Speaker Calvin Say, House Transportatioj ChairmanJoe Souki, executives with Dick Pacifi c Construction and Grace Pacific the Car and Truck Rental Leasing Association of and the U.S. Army. “As an island state, we recognizes the importance of increased surfacw transportation alternatives and the benefit that increaseed competition can offer in the movemen t of cargo and commodities between our Lingle wrote in a lette of supportfor Pasha’s March 13 interisland service application with the state Public Utilities Commission.
But Yount Brothers has support, too, and clearlyh hopes to tap into some of the same passioj of Neighbor Island activiste who helped keep the Superferry out of Kauak and ultimately forced its withdrawalfrom Hawaii. Young Brotherss is pushing for public hearings on all of the NeighbodIslands — including Molokai and Lanai that would presumably draw out the testimonu of loyal Young Brothers customers and activists concernede about the environmental impact of a big transporg ship moving more frequently through the Islands. Amontg Young Brothers’ supporters are Tropical Hawaiian NAPA Distribution Center Hawaii and Alohaq ContainerSales & Rental.
And three monthsa after writing letters of supporyfor Pasha, legislators Say and Souki wrote a letter saying they supporg public hearings on the application. In an April 27 letterr to the PUC, Senate President Colleen Hanabusa andsenators J. Kalani English of Maui and Dwight Takamine of the Big Islands said they support hearings becausethey “havee concerns about the type of service to be Along with sister compangy , Young Brothers controls 50 percent of interisland The remainder is shared by Pashas (10 percent), , small shipping operationzs (including, briefly, Hawaii Superferry) and , like Young Brothers, is ownedr by Seattle-based .
Unlike its competitors, Young Brothers is obligated undeer state law to serve allcommercial harbors, even unprofitabler ones on Lanai and Molokai. That’x the crux of the Young Brothersz argumentagainst Pasha. Glenn Hong, Young president and CEO, said Pashas wants to cherry-pick only the most profitable roll-on, roll-off automobiles shipping to the mostpopulous islands. “We want a level playing field,” said Hong, who deemss the dispute “a matter of publidc policy, a matter of If Pasha wants to compete he said, “It must be all or nothing.
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