U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced that the Department’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) has started preparing the Alakai, a combined cargo and passenger ship built for ferry service in the Hawaiian Islands, for relief duty in Haiti. The ship will be crewed with U.S. civilian mariners.
“This ship will help our relief workers on the ground by allowing quick movements of people in and out of Haiti from various staging points,” said Secretary LaHood. “It is another example of why our country’s merchant marine is so important.”
The Alakai is a high-speed passenger and vehicle ferry, originally built for a specific service in the Hawaiian Islands. It is capable of carrying up to 866 passengers, as well as relief cargo at a top speed of nearly 40 knots in the open ocean. The catamaran hull gives the ship great stability in the water. It is currently undergoing preparations to leave its current location in Norfolk, Va.
The Alakai joins five other MARAD ships activated over the past week: the Gopher State and the Cornhusker State, based in Newport News, VA; Cape May and Huakai, which are sailing from Norfolk, Va., and Petersburg, which is based in Alameda, Calif.