Iselle Impacts Young Brothers Shipping Schedule

Young Brothers barge, file photo by Wendy Osher.

By Wendy Osher

Young Brothers issued an advisory saying it will not be able to sail its Thursday barge to Kahului under current forecasts associated with Hurricane Iselle.

The company said it expects that Maui’s Wednesday barge will sail as scheduled today, with cargo available on Thursday, Aug. 7, until noon. Kahului Harbor could close early on Wednesday, Aug. 6 if conditions warrant, which would preclude sailing from occurring.

On Molokaʻi, barges departed as scheduled for the ports of Kaumalapau and Kaunakakai. Cargo will be available today (Wednesday, Aug. 6) as scheduled, and on Thursday as scheduled at Kaunakakai.

Port of Kahului, file photo by Wendy Osher.

The company recommends that all cargo be retrieved from these ports prior to noon on Thursday.

On Hawaiʻi Island, Young Brothers announced that it will not be accepting “LCL” or less than container load shipments of outbound cargo in Hilo this week or until further notice.

In Hilo, a barge is scheduled to arrive today. Containerized cargo will be available tonight with the barge scheduled to arrive at around 5 p.m. The company says the port will likely be closed on Thursday, Aug. 8.

For all ports, including Honolulu, Young Brothers will only accept straight-load or containerized cargo through at least the remainder of this week.

The company will not accept livestock, hazardous cargo, explosives or vehicles, other than emergency-response and public safety vehicles.

In addition, because of a limited window for delivery of cargo, the company will not accept less-than-container-load or LCL cargo on Wednesday and Thursday, and possible on Friday, depending on weather conditions.

The company says this restriction does not apply to emergency or medical supplies.

Customers utilizing the company for transport of cargo are asked to limit shipping to essential cargo only for the remainder of the week.

If any of the planned sailings detailed above are cancelled, company representatives say they will seek to undertake special sailings to deliver containerized cargo over the weekend, as weather conditions permit.