The Hawaii Superferry is facing a required $2 million interest payment to its bondholders on Saturday even as the suspension of its interisland ferry service is costing the company $650,000 a week and has forced it to furlough 249 workers.

The terms of the bonds — they carry an interest rate of about 6 percent, or about $22,000 a day — call for semi-annual payments to be made to bondholders on Oct. 27 and April 27.

The company floated $140 million in government-backed bonds in April 2006 to pay for the construction of the $85 million Alakai and a second vessel, which is being built on the Mainland.

It's likely the company will make the payment and avoid a costly default, which could force it to shut down.

State legislators could hold a special session that might start as early as Wednesday on a plan that will allow the embattled Superferry to resume operations while the state conducts a state Supreme Court-mandated environmental assessment of the impacts of the vessel.

Local Superferry executives and John Lehman, the company's New York-based chairman and former secretary of the U.S. Navy, declined comment on the bond payments.

Lehman referred all questions on the matter to the U.S. Maritime Administration, which guaranteed the bonds.

The Superferry's interest payment schedule is spelled out in a 21-page bond prospectus obtained by The Advertiser.

Shannon Russell, spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based Maritime Administration, had no immediate comment on the upcoming bond payments. But an agency official previously said that the company has set aside money to cover any shortfalls.

During testimony in Maui Circuit Court last month, Jean McKeever, associate administrator for business and workforce development for MARAD, said that the Superferry has $6.5 million in an escrow account to cover interest payments during the startup of its operations.

McKeever said the company is required to maintain a net worth of $58 million between the time the loan guarantee closed and the delivery of a second ferry next year. McKeever noted that those assets are not always liquid, meaning cash.

But the $6.5 million escrow account is meant as a short-term fix that could quickly be depleted if the Superferry doesn't start producing revenue, she said.

McKeever also warned that taxpayers could wind up paying a $140 million tab should the company default on its bonds.

Should the Superferry default, bondholders could demand their money back from MARAD, which guaranteed the financing.

MARAD, in turn, could move to seize the Alakai and the second ferry because it holds a first mortgage on the ships, Superferry bond documents show.

The Advertiser previously reported that the Maritime Administration had paid out $490 million to cover defaults over the previous several years by other companies.

The defaults included $330 million linked to American Classic Voyages, which operated interisland cruises before it went bankrupt after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

If the Superferry shuts down, local shipping-related businesses could wind up footing the bill for $40 million in harbor improvements that the state provided for the company. The state issued bonds to pay for barges, ramps and other equipment for the new interisland ferry service.

The state Department of Transportation's Harbor Fund — it receives proceeds from harbor-use charges, rentals and other sources of income — covers the bond payments for the Superferry-related harbor improvements.

The state has said that taxpayer money is not used to pay for those improvements.

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.