Hawaii Harbor Nets Over $8M in Federal Funding

Kahului Deep Draft Harbor in Maui
Kahului Deep Draft Harbor in Maui
Kahului Deep Draft Harbor in Maui. Photo via Army Corps of Engineers.

More than $8 million will go toward maintaining the Maui and Molokai harbors, thanks to federal funding given to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Hawai‘i as part of Congress’ Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act, signed into law in 2021.

About $4.6 million will be set aside for the Kahului Deep Draft Harbor, Maui’s only commercial port on the island’s northern coast. Meanwhile, $3.5 million will be used for the Kaunakakai Deep Draft Harbor on the south central coast of Molokai.

Such projects help the Army Corps maintain and run the harbors.

“As an island state, our harbors and ports keep our state connected and our local economy moving,” said U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “This new funding will help maintain our harbors on Maui and Molokai so that the cargo carriers and boat and ship operators that rely on them can continue to safely do their jobs and provide residents with the food and goods they need.”