Norwegian presses
for cruise exemption

Union officials doubt the foreign
liner will make concessions

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By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

Norwegian Cruise Lines wants an exemption from an 1886 federal law that complicates its Hawaii itinerary.

The Passenger Services Act prohibits a foreign-owned vessel from picking up passengers at one American port and dropping them at another.

Norwegian Cruise Lines has been talking to Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, who arranged a similar exemption for American Classic Voyages.

The difference this time is its a foreign cruise line that wants to run passengers between Hawaii ports without a foreign stop.

That's why talks are in the early stages with a long way to go, said Jennifer Goto Sabas, Inouye's spokeswoman in Hawaii.

"There are requirements" to be met before the senator would make any step toward the congressional approval that would bee needed, she said.

First, the company would have to operate the Hawaii business through a U.S. subsidiary, totally subject to U.S. laws about labor and the environment. Also "it would have to have a 100 percent U.S. crew," Sabas said.

One union representative said he doubts Norwegian Cruise Lines will go along when it finds out what it costs to comply.

"They'll never go for that," said Gunnar Lundeberg, San Francisco-based president of the Sailors Union of the Pacific.

His union does not support exemptions to the 116-year law that preserves American ports for American ships, he said.

The union did go along with an exemption for now-bankrupt American Classic Voyages to use the foreign-built, but American-manned ms Patriot in Hawaiian waters, but that was based on American Classic's commitment to build two huge passenger liners in America for the Hawaii trade.

With the first of the new ships 40-percent built, American Classic went into bankruptcy last fall and ceased all Hawaii operations.

"If they want to come into U.S. waters and enjoy the benefits of sailing in the domestic trades, they should pay U.S. taxes and comply with all U.S. environmental, labor and safety laws," Lundeberg said.

Norwegian officials did not return calls yesterday. However, the company has frequently expressed its intention to comply with U.S. laws.

Last year, confronted with a law that said a ship cannot have gaming equipment on board in Hawaiian waters, Norwegian changed the final plans for a new ship to remove the equipment.

Inouye spokeswoman Sabas said the senator feels it is up to the cruise line to figure out to what extent it can comply with requirements it would have to meet before any change could be proposed in Congress.

"It's a business. They need to run their numbers," she said.

Norwegian began weekly round-the-islands cruises in December with the foreign-built, foreign-manned Norwegian Star, a new ship carrying up to 2,200 passengers and a crew of 1,100.

It operates outside the requirements of the Passenger Services Act by including in its itinerary a trip to Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati. That makes it an international voyage that needs no U.S. exemption.

In September it will bring in an additional ship, the 1,748-passenger Norwegian Wind, which will run a similar itinerary.