Is this surge related to its faster transaction speed or is it actually more likely related to Bitfinex difficulties?
it think this some kind of cryptocultural habit,
bitcoins weaknesses force people to hedge away, and litecoin is something they are familiar, with, so they buy it.
but ltc is a very slightly changed bitcoin source code, and therefore not really great,
litecoin is better than bitcoin now but not the best potential coin currently,
to sum up:
litecoins surge is just the direct migration away from bitcoin towards litecoin, caused by bitcoins problems.