[ WAR BOOM ]

WWII brought paradigm
shift for Hawaii life

Wartime restrictions altered
aspects of the economy, including
a new Coca-Cola factory

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By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com

World War II in the Pacific reshaped Hawaii's businesses and economy.

Before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Coca-Cola was bottling only 57,000 cases of soft drink per year in Hawaii; in 1944, Coca-Cola bottled 6 million cases.

Before the war, all cargo had to be shipped by barge between Oahu and the neighbor islands because there was no interisland air freight. By 1949, Hawaiian Airlines had transported 60 million pounds of cargo by airplane.

Hawaiian Dredging and Construction Co. was involved primarily in building military air bases before the war. The company expanded into real estate development, and in 1959 built the largest shopping center in the world at the time: Ala Moana Center.

STAR-BULLETIN The Pearl Harbor attack doubled Hawaii's population as U.S. servicemen and civilian military workers poured into the isles.

World War II doubled Hawaii's population as American servicemen and civilian military workers poured into the islands. Their salaries boosted total real personal income in the islands between 1940 and 1944 an average 36 percent per year.

The Korean and Vietnam wars brought more defense money into the islands, but their impact on the economy was not as dramatic since the number of troops assigned here remained the same.

The American military took control of practically all aspects of life in Hawaii at the start of the war, including the economy.

People had a hard time getting alcoholic beverages and soft drinks from the mainland; the goods had low shipping priority.

Local breweries tried to fill in, and Coca-Cola decided to produce and bottle more of its soft drink. Even with more competition now, Coca-Cola still bottles about 5.5 million cases at its Mapunapuna plant every year, said Kit McClure, Coca-Cola operations manager.

STAR-BULLETIN / SEPT. 2, 1998 On the 53rd anniversary of the end of WWII, sailors and civilians alike came out to Pearl Harbor to commemorate the event in September 1998. This was the view from aboard the USS Missouri looking at the Arizona Memorial.

In the early days of the war, the War Shipping Administration took over all island steamships and even halted all interisland shipping. Hawaiian Airlines filled the void after with interisland air freight service after it was granted the first air cargo certificate by the Civil Aeronautics Board on March 20, 1942.

In 2000 the airline flew 71 million pounds of cargo accounting for 4.6 percent of the company's total operating revenue. The events of Sept. 11 caused a reduction in Hawaiian's air cargo business. But it is in the process of replacing its fleet of DC-10 aircraft with Boeing 767s, which will double the airline's cargo-carrying capacity, said Keoni Wagner, Hawaiian Airlines spokesman.

Hawaiian Dredging and Construction's parent company, Dillingham Construction Corp., expanded into other types of development through the money from building World War II air bases in Hawaii and throughout the Pacific, said Allan Lock, company vice president.

In 1959, Dillingham built Ala Moana Center. Dillingham still accepts military contracts, which make up between 5 percent and 20 percent of the company's business, Lock said. One of its most recent projects in Hawaii is the Ford Island Bridge.

COURTESY OF HAWAIIAN DREDGING After World War II, Hawaiian Dredging and Construction Co. became a major player in changing Hawaii's landscape, involved in building landmarks like the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific-Punchbowl, shown here, and Ala Moana Center.

The exodus of American military and civilian personnel at the end of the war caused a contraction in the Hawaii economy. From 1945 to 1949, total real personal income fell an average 15 percent per year. But many of the changes to the local economy were permanent.

Some of the labor controls exercised by the military in cooperation with the sugar and pineapple plantations are credited with helping spur the growth in labor unions after the war. And even after the military relinquished control over the Hawaii economy, the Big Five plantation companies never regained the dominance they enjoyed before the war.

In "Islands in Transition: The Past, Present and Future of Hawaii's Economy," First Hawaiian Bank economist Thomas Hitch said one of the important things that World War II did to Hawaii was to bring it out of its isolation from the rest of the world, opening it up for foreign investment.