NCL slashes Hawaii fleet

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) is pulling one of its three US-flag ships from Hawaii in the face of severe losses. The company confirmed the “temporary withdrawal” from Hawaii of the 92,000-gt, 2,466-passenger Pride of Hawaii, with effect from February 2008, and plans to redeploy that ship to Europe in summer 2008. “We take this action with regret,” said NCL chief executive Colin Veitch, who explained that despite the “temporary retrenchment” NCL remains committed to the US-flag Hawaii business. “We need to make sure that our other two ships, Pride of Aloha and Pride of America, are able to achieve profitability before we can confidently re-introduce Pride of Hawaii”. Veitch characterised NCL’s Hawaii programme as "a victim of its own success" because sector growth spearheaded by NCL has attracted lower-cost, foreign-flag competitors, who added nearly “80% additional capacity days on top of NCL America’s in 2007.” Following its delivery by Meyer Werft last year, the Pride of Hawaii was introduced into the NCL America fleet via the company’s special legislative allowance to deploy up to three US-crewed, US-flagged vessels in Hawaii. “Severe downward pricing pressure” from that programme was largely responsible for NCL’s $131M loss in 2006.