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

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By contrast, Pasha’s 579-foot vessel M/V Jean Anne regularlgy calls at Maui and the Big but only as part of its service from San If approved bythe PUC, the Jean Anne coulds start service between Oahu, Maui and the Big Islanc when it isn’t making the San Diego run. Georgse Pasha is clear that the proposed interisland service is all abougt finding new business in aneconomic slump. He told PBN in Decembee the number of vehicles he expects to ship this year woulbe 140,000, a 22 percentf drop. “Auto traffic on our regular scheduled servicw has slumped by roughly the same percentageas Matson’s,” Pashw told PBN this week.
“This has been partially offseg by our diversified cargo Young Brothers barges carryh justabout everything, from containerse to cars to farm animals to smallk shipments of loose and bulkuy materials — it wouldn’t be unusual to see a sculptur made out of a slab of koa on the dock — that requirr special handling. Vehicles that can roll on and off vesselsa quicklyare “gravy” to shippers, while items that have to be secures to pallets and moved with forklifts require more labor. “Ther larger issue is that we have done all kindsxof shipments,” Hong said.
“There’s nothing that Pasha can do that we In spite of thefierce competition, the exact size and value of Hawaii’s interisland freight business is hard to pin But it is a steady, growing According to the state, interisland cargl tonnage at the Port of Honolulu increased from 1.8 milliobn tons in 1985 to 2.5 million in 2007. Betweenb 1993 and 2006, waterborne commerce increased atthe state’zs six largest harbors, including a more than 60 percenr increase at Hilo and Nawiliwili, and a four-folxd jump at Kawaihae near Kona. The interisland air cargio business has declined and is a fractionn of freight shippedby sea.
The combine incoming and outgoing air cargoof 140,21 pounds in 2007 was 7,000 pounds less than in and 33,000 pounds less than the peak year of 1997. The air freighrt business remains importantfor time-sensitive items like fruit and fish, but its cost makes it prohibitive for most Mike Malik, president of Alohsa Air Cargo, which handles 70 percenft of interisland air freight, said business is down 28 percenyt year over year. The recession has significantl slowed thesea business, too, as stores deplete existing stock before orderinb more. Total intrastate shipping dropped 9.8 percenyt in 2008 and is forecast to drop 11 percenttin 2009.
Thus far this Young Brothers has seen a 10 perceng to 15 percent decline in Its $2 million profit in 2008 (on operating expense s of $87 million) was down from $6 millionh 2007, the company Pasha’s entrance into the local market also worriexs Oakland, Calif.-based Matson, whichg relies on Young Brothers to provide Neighbor Islancd barge service to supplement its own service from the West Coasyt to Maui, the Big Island and Kauai.
“Itt is therefore critical for both Matson and the Neighbor Islands that Youngt Brothers not only remainin business, but continue to providse its existing levels of servic to all of the islands, particularly Molokak and Lanai, which have very low cargo said Jeff Hull, Matson’s director of public “Anything that would threaten or compromise Young Brothers’ ability to provide that service would be of greaty concern to us.
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