Harbors COVID-19 Harbors Division Lends a Helping Hand With the threat of COVID-19 spreading from abroad, passenger vessels were left stranded and seeking a port to have foreign, domestic, and Hawaiian residents to disembark at. Pier 2 at Honolulu Harbor filled that vacuum by accepting these stranded passengers and assisted them on their return home. On March 24, 2020, appreciating the HDOT efforts to let the NCL Jewel dock in Hawaii, a passenger that was on the ship when it was refused entry to ports in New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Western Samoa, American Samoa, French Polynesia (Tahiti), and New Zealand wrote:
In reading the Star Advertiser’s articles a few days before arriving in Honolulu, I read a lot of strong negative comments from its readers opposing cruise ships coming to Hawaii, much less disembarking its passengers in Honolulu. It made me reminisce the ugly protestor acts the SuperFerry received years ago while trying to start business in Hawaii. I remember seeing folks on surfboards and on canoes wading in the water at the entrance of Nawiliwili Harbor blocking the SuperFerry. I imagined this exact scene happening, only difference would be that it be the entrance to the Honolulu Harbor.
By: Davis Yogi
a resident that could be a neighbor or family member. COVID-19 Testing and Vaccinations
Without passengers, Pier 2 was transformed to support the State, City and County of Honolulu’s COVID-19 response. The Harbors Division support of the City and County of Honolulu’s surge COVID-19 testing on September 14, 2020 accounted for almost 1,000 residents. As the State of Hawaii continues onto the next phase of the COVID-19 response and to re-start the economy, Harbors Division assisted the Legislature and Department of Health in establishing a vaccination point of dispensing (POD) site at the Pier 2 cruise terminal. The DOH provider, Hawaii Pacific Health, launched the POD open to the public on January 18, 2021, Martin Luther King Day. The Oahu Harbor District Manager, Neil Takekawa, led Harbors Division’s support to the State’s COVID-19 vaccination POD .
…State of Hawaii, HDOT, and its Harbors Administration was the first place I wanted to thank. Without your actions, we may now be on our way to the mainland.”
Much Mahalo,
The sentiment shared by this resident was overwhelmingly satisfying, because it is a result of all of us doing our best and lending a hand to
Hawaii Pacific Health (HPH) conducted a dry run in administering the vaccine on January 15, 2021 to make sure things go smoothly before opening to the general public. HPH utilizes its vaccina-
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