Posted on: Friday, December 21, 2001

Editorial
Cayetano warming up to foreign cruise ships

Gov. Ben Cayetano is right on course in calling for a special Hawai'i exemption to the federal law that prevents Hawai'i from benefitting fully from the mushrooming international cruise industry.

Until the demise of the interisland cruise line American Classic Voyages, there seemed ample reason to cling to the protectionist restrictions of the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886. Congress had agreed to back the building, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, of two new American-built ocean liners, and had guaranteed American Classic exclusive rights to the Hawaii market for years to come.

Today a half-built ship sits abandoned in its ways at a Mississippi shipyard, and the American cruise industry is nothing more than a broken dream.

Meanwhile, the 2,200-passenger Norwegian Star, a brand-spanking-new state-of-the-art cruise ship, its stack nearly as tall as Aloha Tower, must haul its passengers 600 miles out of its interisland itinerary to call at Fanning Island in order to wink at the arcane requirements of the Passenger Act, which prohibits foreign ships from sailing between U.S. ports.

It is abundantly clear that foreign cruise ships, which are the only kind that remain nowadays, are capable of supplementing Hawai'i's visitor industry in important new ways, if these cruise lines are freed from the fetters of the old law.

Beyond sailing among the islands of Hawai'i, lifting the restriction against foreign carriers would allow lines to offer passage to and from Hawai'i and the West Coast. It makes no sense to prevent them from doing so. There is no domestic industry that is protected by this restriction, and there is obviously a market to be served.

Cayetano is right to believe that it will fall to Hawai'i's senior Sen. Dan Inouye to attempt a release for Hawai'i from this law. Considering the complexities of the deal he and Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott engineered for American Classic Voyages, that should be relatively easy.

We caution Cayetano, however, to exercise a little restraint in the matter of shipboard gambling. The Norwegian line has been admirably considerate of Hawai'i sensibilities in agreeing to forego gambling aboard its Star, since it would be home-ported in a state that forbids gambling.

It's evident that Norwegian doesn't consider gambling essential to the profitability of its venture here. As more ships join in interisland voyaging, as appears likely, it may become an issue that requires the fullest discussion. But let's not let rush to let this harmful genie out of its bottle.