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New ships
to cruise in isles

Norwegian Cruise Line
says the first of two ships
will be ready to sail in 2004


Star-Bulletin staff

Norwegian Cruise Line expects to have its first new American-flagged cruise ship operating in Hawaiian waters by early summer 2004.

In the first official confirmation that it will take advantage of a law signed by President Bush Friday, NCL said the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven, Germany, will complete the first of two ships early next year and go ahead with a second.

NCL also will reflag one of its existing foreign-built vessels, but it has not decided which ship.

The first new ship, as yet unnamed, will undertake a series of cruises and introductory activities on its way to its home port, Honolulu, NCL said.

The company expects to need a crew of 700 for the ship, and hopes to recruit those employees in Hawaii, according to local NCL spokesman Steve Hirano.

The company confirmed it will operate three ships in Hawaiian waters under the U.S. flag in accordance with a provision signed as part of the U.S. budget bill last week. They will operate under U.S. labor laws and all other rules applying to U.S. ships and will have American crews.

The new law "will create thousands of American jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in economic benefits to Hawaii and the United States," said Colin Veitch, NCL president and chief executive officer, in a statement issued yesterday in Honolulu. That comment, NCL said, was based on a recent PriceWaterhouse Coopers report that said shifting three foreign vessels to a U.S. operation would create 20,000 jobs, including 10,000-plus for Hawaii residents.

Veitch said the law, introduced by Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, allows NCL to be the first company in nearly 50 years to be able to hoist the U.S. flag on a new passenger liner.

NCL already operates the Norwegian Star year-round in Hawaii and the Norwegian Wind several months of the year. But because those ships are foreign-built and operate with foreign crews for the U.S. arm of a foreign company, they are not allowed to pick up passengers from one U.S. port and deliver them to another. NCL's answer has been to make a stop at Fanning Island, in the Republic of Kiribati, which allows it to start and finish voyages in Hawaii.

The vessels being built in Germany were originally intended as 1,900-passenger liners to be built in America for American Classic Voyages Inc. NCL bought one ship, which was about 40 percent finished at a Mississippi shipyard, and parts for a second, after American Classic Voyages filed for bankruptcy in October.



Norwegian Cruise Line


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