The second of two fast ferries built at Austal USA for client Hawaii Superferry Inc. is moved into drydock for its future launch on Monday, Sept. 29, 2008, in downtown Mobile, Ala. The ferry is scheduled for delivery to Hawaii by March. The first fast ferry was launched in January and is now in service in Hawaii. Outfitted with shops, restaurants and space for 866 passengers and 282 cars, the aluminum-hulled catamaran vessels can travel at speeds approaching 50 mph. Photo taken for the roof of the RSA Tower. (Press-Register, Mike Kittrell) MOBILE, Ala. -- Two enormous high-speed ferries built by Austal USA with the intent of shuttling people and goods between the Hawaiian Islands were reportedly sold at auction earlier this week to the federal government.
Hawaii Superferry Inc. ordered the two ferries in 2004 under a $190 million contract. The company planned to use them to ship people and goods around the different islands in Hawaii. But that state's Supreme Court shut the service down in March 2009, when it ruled that a state law allowing the company to operate while an environmental study was being conducted was unconstitutional.
Two months later, the company filed for bankruptcy.
On Monday, The Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported that the ships were sold for $25 million each to the U.S. Maritime Administration at an auction off on the steps of U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Va.
When the company filed for bankruptcy, it had $136.8 million outstanding on two MARAD loans, and $22.9 million outstanding on a pair of loans from Austal, according to a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. As a creditor, MARAD could use the money it was owed to bid in an auction.
Hawaii Superferry is controlled by J.F. Lehman & Co., which was founded by former Navy Secretary John F. Lehman. The private-equity firm lost its entire $85 million investment in Hawaii Superferry, Alex Harman, a partner at the firm, has told Bloomberg News.
Austal officials declined to comment on the auction Tuesday. Officials with the Maritime Administration could not be reached for comment about what they planned to do with the ships.
The administration repossessed the vessels in July 2009. In January, the government sent the two ships -- the Alakai and the Huakai -- to Haiti to aid in earthquake relief efforts.