The Hawai`i Superferryhas spent $210,000 since last summer to lobby for federal money to install features on its second high-speed catamaran to make it more attractive for military use.The Superferry paid Blank Rome LLC, a prominent law and lobbying firm, to try to obtain federal money through the National Defense Features program to cover the cost of improvements to its second catamaran under construction at the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala.The defense program covers the installation of militarily useful features on commercial ships if the owners agree to make the ships available to the military during emergencies.The Superferry also may eventually retrofit the Alakai, which is now in commercial passenger and cargo service between O`ahu and Maui, with a vehicle ramp and other improvements.The improvements to the catamarans, if completed, would make the vessels self-sustaining and better suited for military assignments here and abroad. The second ferry is scheduled for delivery next February.John Lehman, a Superferry investor and former secretary of the Navy, and a Superferry executive told Pacific Business News in March 2005 of the ferry's potential to move the Army's Stryker brigade and other military equipment between O`ahu and the Big Island.Read MoreHere
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