The result was a loss of $43.3 million in the three months ended March 31, compared with a loss of $4 million in the first quarter of 1995, the Chicago-headquartered cruise ship company said. The 1995 loss was mostly associated with startup costs in putting a new riverboat into service out of New Orleans.
First-quarter revenues were $41.9 million this year, down 5.2 percent from $44.3 million in the 1995 quarter. Before the write-down, the company was losing money but had improved. It had a loss of $5.3 million from operations, before taxes, in the latest quarter, compared with a loss of $7.3 million in the year-earlier period.
The company, which still has the S.S. Independence in service in round-the-islands cruises, announced last May it would take the Constitution out of service for a year for renovations.
However, the 45-year-old Constitution, still afloat at a shipyard in Portland, Ore., proved too costly to repair and the company announced early this month that the ship would not be coming back to the islands.
American Classic, which was Delta Queen Steamship Co. before the acquisition of American Hawaii Cruises and its two ships in 1993, has three nongaming riverboats operating on mainland inland waterways such as the Mississippi River.