ASSOCIATED PRESS
Scaffolded cruise liner Pride of America listed at a pier of the Lloyd shipyard yesterday in Bremerhaven, Germany.
Hawaii-bound cruise ship
falters in German storm
BERLIN >> A cruiseliner undergoing work at a German dock took on water during a storm and tilted in its berth yesterday, sending a construction crane crashing into a building, injuring three workers and casting doubt on whether it will begin interisland runs in Hawaii this summer.
It will be several days before damage to the Pride of America can be assessed, so any impact on the July 4 launch of Hawaii cruises on the vessel was not immediately known, said Susan Robison, a Miami-based spokeswoman for Norwegian Cruise Line, which operates the ship.
The ship took on water up to its third deck and is resting in about 30 feet of water at the Lloyd Werft shipyard, officials said. It will take a few days for the ship to be refloated, which would then allow officials to determine the extent of the damage.
The 2,200-passenger Pride of America -- one of two Norwegian Cruise Line ships bound for Hawaii this year -- was tilting at about 15 degrees in the northern port of Bremerhaven after water rushed in shortly after midnight, police said.
No one was injured in the building after the dockside crane crashed into it, but three of the 13 workers aboard the ship suffered bruises and scrapes, police said.
German authorities were investigating the accident and were trying to determine why the ship took on water, police spokesman Holger Jacobs said.
The ship was being refitted and lengthened by 80 feet for Norwegian, owned by Malaysia's Star Cruises.
The Pride of America, along with the 1,900-passenger Pride of Aloha, are expected to bring even more visitors to Hawaii when they begin to run interisland service under Norwegian's NCL America line. They are to join the Norwegian Wind, which will continue operating roundtrip cruises to the former Fanning Island, now known as Tabuaeran.
The Pride of America and the Pride of Aloha are the first American-flagged cruise ships to operate in Hawaiian waters since 1991. They are foreign-built but allowed to fly under U.S. flags because of a provision pushed by Hawaii's congressional delegation and passed by President Bush.
Thousands of tickets aboard the Pride of America have already been sold, Robison said, and close to 1,000 crew members for that vessel and its sister ship have been hired.
Norwegian operated a booth at a job fair yesterday at Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, and will continue to recruit.
