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Expansion
pulls down
cruise line
parent’s net
Two ships being built
Star-Bulletin staff
for Hawaii cut into the
company earnings
American Hawaii Cruises parent American Classic Voyages Co. had a loss of $33,000 in the final quarter of 1999, due mostly to $1.8 million in expansion costs related to building two 1,900-passengers liners for the Hawaii trade and fleet expansion at its Delta Queen Steamboat operation on the mainland.
The loss compares to a net profit of $1.5 million, or 10 cents a share, the 1998 quarter. Revenues in the latest quarter were $55.5 million, up 17.8 percent from $47.1 million in the year-earlier period.
For all of 1999, American Classic had a loss of $1.8 million, or 10 cents a share, compared to a 1998 profit of $200,000, or 1 cent share. Revenues in 1999 totaled $208.7 million, up 8.6 percent from $192.2 million in 1998.
Philip C. Calian, president of Chicago-based company, said its vessels performed well in the latest quarter and bookings are strong this year.
The company's one ship in Hawaii round-the-islands cruises, the 1,021-passenger Independence, is 96 percent booked for the first nine months of 2000 at an average $218 per passenger per night, he said. For the year-earlier period, American Hawaii Cruises was 91 percent booked at $199 per passenger night.
The company plans to put a second ship, the 1,214-passenger Patriot, into Hawaii service in December and will take delivery of the first of the two newly built luxury liners in the winter of 2003. Those three ships will cruise around the islands under the United States Lines brand.
