The state Department of Transportation has told Hawaii Superferry it must pay for evening tugboat services at Kahului Harbor needed to accommodate the company's expanded Maui service.

The DOT Harbors Division previously requested $350,000 in state funds for tugboat services from April 1 through June 30 for the daily morning ferry visit. The agency filed an amended request April 28 with the State Procurement Office seeking to increase that amount to $750,000 because of Superferry's plan to begin a second Maui sailing, four days a week, starting tomorrow.

That is in addition to the $350,000 previously approved for the period of Jan. 18 to March 31.

According to the amended request, a tugboat will be needed a total of five hours a day to keep a state-owned ferry barge — used for loading and unloading vehicles — snug against the end of Pier 2C at Kahului Harbor, which is subject to ocean swells.

Although the DOT is seeking approval to procure tugboat assistance for two visits a day to Maui, "we have notified HSF that they are responsible for the costs associated with the second Maui call," Harbors Division chief Michael Formby said yesterday. "We have not received HSF's position on our decision as of this date."

Hawaii Superferry did not respond to an Advertiser request for comment yesterday.

The DOT also has not conceded that it is responsible for any tugboat costs incurred since January. The state and Superferry continue to discuss that point, which arose after the Kahului Harbor ferry barge was battered by winter swells on several occasions.

The barge is part of $40 million in state-funded improvements for ferry service at four ports.

Under an agreement with the Coast Guard, the DOT must use a tugboat to secure the Kahului barge until winter conditions abate, or until a permanent, Coast Guard-approved mooring system is installed. Despite the change in seasons, occasional northeast swells continue to roll into the harbor.

A good chunk of the original money requested for unanticipated tugboat services was not spent because Superferry's high-speed catamaran, the Alakai, experienced six weeks in drydock in February and March, and lost two weeks' additional service because of rough seas.

Formby said the actual amount spent on tugboat assistance to date was not immediately available.

The Harbors Division has been soliciting bids for services every two weeks, and alternates between P&M Marine Services LLC and Hawaiian Tug & Barge.

Hawaii Superferry said the afternoon Maui voyages, offered Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, will benefit customers who want the convenience of traveling later in the day. The afternoon sailings also will allow commercial customers to return the same day, something they can't do now with a single daily roundtrip.

The company said its passenger and vehicle loads have been increasing steadily since the ferry's restart last month after drydock repairs, although it did not provide updated numbers. At the time Superferry suspended service in February, the average load was 115 people and 40 cars from Honolulu to Maui, and 87 people and 39 cars on the return leg.

Superferry officials had projected a daily one-way passenger load of 400. The Alakai is capable of carrying 866 people and 282 cars.

The second sailing will mean additional hours for some of Superferry's port workers, and the company has hired 20 additional employees, officials said.

Although the Alakai will be in service only four evenings a week, the company yesterday said in an e-mail to The Advertiser that there are no plans to ease back into Kaua'i service by sailing to Nawiliwili Harbor the remaining three days.

Formby said Superferry has not notified the DOT of plans to resume Kaua'i service, which was suspended in August following protests.

Promotional one-way fares of $39 per person and $55 per passenger vehicle between Honolulu and Maui remain in effect through June 5. The company will offer fares of $49 per person and $65 per passenger vehicle for travel between June 6 and Sept. 30, except during select blackout periods.

During the two promotional periods, Superferry is waiving its fuel surcharge, which was listed yesterday on the company Web site at 49.8 percent.

In a March 14 letter notifying the Public Utilities Commission of the summer fares, the company it was extending promotional pricing through September to "gain public acceptance, regardless of any other controversy." The discounted fares are necessary to offset "negative publicity" generated by environmental lawsuits, the Kaua'i protests, and cancellation of voyages due to rough seas and repairs, the letter said.