BUSINESS BRIEFS
Aloha Air Cargo sale completed
Advertiser Staff and News Services
The owner of Young Brothers/Hawaiian Tug & Barge has completed its $10.5 million purchase of Aloha Airline's cargo division.
Seattle-based Saltchuk Resources Inc. held a blessing ceremony yesterday marking the closing of the sale, which will preserve nearly 400 jobs.
Aloha Air Cargo is the state's largest air cargo provider. The company flies more than 85 percent of all air freight between O'ahu and the Neighbor Islands.
Aloha shut down its passenger operations and put its cargo division up for sale last month.
JAMES W. RITCHIE TAKES BYUH POST
The BYU-Hawai'i School of Business has named James W. Ritchie as the new director of the university's Willes Center for International Entrepreneurship.
Ritchie, from Heber, Utah, will serve in the voluntary role for two to three years, according to Clayton Hubner, the business school's dean.
Ritchie, principal of The Ritchie Group: Real Estate & Investments, will succeed Gregory V. Gibson, J.D. as the new CIE director on June 1. Gibson will continue in his role as a member of the School of Business faculty.
Ritchie was involved in starting numerous companies, including car, farm equipment and snowmobile dealerships; feed mills, campgrounds, motels, hotels, restaurants, rental properties, travel agencies and two hospitals.
His company is involved in the development of a 335-unit luxury condo project in Po'ipu, Kaua'i, and he recently helped finance a start-up bottled water company in Samoa. As the former senior vice president for the Franklin Quest Company, Ritchie also helped open operations in Japan and Hong Kong.
MEETING TO DISCUSS COFFEE REGULATION
The state Department of Agriculture has scheduled a meeting Tuesday to discussed proposed changes to the laws that regulate the processing and sale of Hawai'i-grown coffee.
Representatives from the department's Commodities Branch and Measurement Standards Branch will explain changes being considered by the state Legislature that would affect how local coffee is labeled and sold.
Some of the proposed changes include: increasing the minimum content required to 50 percent of Hawai'i-grown coffee in blended coffee, up from 10 percent; stricter labeling requirements; and uniform inspection and certification requirements for both green and roasted Hawai'i-grown coffee beans.
The Maui meeting will start at 6 p.m. at the Pukalani Community Center Meeting Room.
TALK ON ADAPTING HOMES FOR ELDERLY
Graham Builders is holding a free seminar May 31 on how to make homes "comfortable and safe" for multiple generations living under the same roof.
"This is especially pertinent in Hawai'i where our culture embraces multi-generational living," the company said in a news release.
The company cited statistics, such as Hawai'i's aging population, rising nursing care costs, and the fact that most homes were not built to accommodate older adults.
The seminar will cover modifications that can be made to homes to address mobility and safety issues, the company said.
The seminar is scheduled for 1:30 to 3 p.m. in the Kaka'ako Meeting Room of Ward Warehouse.
To reserve a space, call 593-2808 ext. 114, or e-mail bonnie@grahambuilders.com.
