USNS ''Guam'' (T-HST-1), formerly

Hawaii Superferry Hawaii Superferry was a Hawaii-based transportation company that provided passenger and vehicle transportation between Honolulu Harbor on the island of Oahu and Kahului Harbor on Maui. Legal issues over environmental impact statements and pro ...

's ''Huakai'', is a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

high-speed transport vessel. The ship was completed in September 2008 and was intended to start Hawaiian service in May 2009, though delivery postponements saw that planned service canceled. In the

Hawaiian language Hawaiian (', ) is a critically endangered Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family, originating in and native to the Hawaiian Islands. It is the native language of the Hawaiian people. Hawaiian, along with English, is an offi ...

, ''huakai'' means "journey". The design of the is 70 percent in common with the Hawaii Superferries, both built by

Austal USA Austal USA is an American shipbuilder based on Blakeley Island in Mobile, Alabama. It is a subsidiary of the Australian shipbuilder Austal, operating under a Special Security Arrangement which allows it to work independently and separately on s ...

Vessel

USNS ''Guam'' was built as ''Huakai'', whose name is based on the

word ''huakai'', which means "journey". The vessel is a long high-speed

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their ...

(Ro/Ro) passenger ship. The vessel was originally built for

, and has a capacity of 866 passengers and up to 282 subcompact cars. It is longer than its

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

, , due to a bi-fold ramp installed on the stern of the ship. The vessel featured environmentally friendly technologies including non-toxic bottom paint, zero wastewater discharge and clean diesel engines.

, a subsidiary of

Austal Austal Limited is an Australian-based global ship building company and defence prime contractor that specialises in the design, construction and support of defence and commercial vessels. Austal's product range includes naval vessels, High-spee ...

, an Australian company that is the world's largest builder of fast ferries, built ''Huakai''. Construction on ''Huakai'' began in 2007 in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

. The ship was intended to enter service in 2009, but due to the abrupt shut down of Hawaii Superferry, the ship was laid up. ''Alakai'' also returned to the Alabama ship yard. On July 2, 2009, Hawaii Superferry decided to abandon ''Huakai'' and ''Alakai''.

Service history

In January 2010, the

United States Maritime Administration The United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) is an Government agency#United States, agency of the United States Department of Transportation. MARAD administers financial programs to develop, promote, and operate the United States Maritime ...

announced that ''Huakai'' and ''Alakai'' would be used to assist with relief in the

2010 Haiti earthquake The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (departm ...

. On September 13, 2010, ''Huakai'' and ''Alakai'' were auctioned off, for $25 million each, by the

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

for the Eastern District of Virginia. They were purchased by the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

Maritime Administration Maritime administrations, or flag state administrations, are the executive arms/state bodies of each government responsible for carrying out the shipping responsibilities of the state, and are tasked to administer national shipping and boating issu ...

. On January 27, 2012, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration transferred two high speed vessels, ''Huakai'' and ''Alakai'', to the U.S. Navy under the Defense Authorization Act of 2012. The Navy had planned to use the vessels to transport troops and equipment to training areas from

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

and other locations, helping the Navy meet these unique operational requirements without the need to build new vessels. In May 2012, the Navy has announced that both ''Alakai'' and ''Huakai'' have been renamed. ''Alakai'' was renamed and ''Huakai'' became ''Guam''. ''Guam'' was modified to replace the chartered in

in March 2013, and ''Puerto Rico'' remained laid up until 2016.

References

External links

Hawaii Superferry’s Bankruptcy = US Navy Opportunity
��Defense Industry Daily {{DEFAULTSORT:Guam (T-HST-1) Ferries of Hawaii High-speed craft 2008 ships High speed vessels of the United States Navy Military catamarans