Saturday, August 16, 2008  Comparing Marine diesel and Jet fuel
prices‏  There are other things that could be blogged on, but
this issue has come up over on the Los Angeles Times travel blog
today. Marine diesel fuel (MDO) and jet fuel prices are
comparable, esp. by the metric ton, but also even by the gallon
at retail.  People have not been making the comparison, but HSF
runs 4 diesel engines with Rolls-Royce waterjets. The largest
interisland air carrier here Hawaiian Air runs Boeing 717's with
2 Rolls-Royce jet engines, verified with one of Hawaiian Air's
engineers today. The detailed calculations have been done before
on this blog, that Hawaiian Air is at least twice as fuel
efficient as HSF moving the same number of people interisland on
the same route, regardless of whether this is reflected yet in
HSF's pricing.  Beyond this comparison, what has happened to jet
fuel prices ultimately is going to have dramatic affect on
tourism, the visitor industry, and eventually the whole economy
here in Hawaii over