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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, October 21, 2001

Effects of bankruptcy filing

 •  Isle cruise ships sail into ports, mothballs
 •  Cruise ships carried aloha
 •  Attacks end firm's struggle to regain stability

Advertiser Staff

In its bankruptcy filing Friday, American Classic listed assets of $37.4 million and debts of $452.8 million.

The Florida-based company operates four distinct cruise lines under the company banner: American Hawai'i Cruises and United States Lines in the Islands, and two Mainland products called Delta Queen Steamboat Company, which plies inland rivers, and Delta Queen Coastal Voyages.

Among the effects of the filing:

• Hawai'i operations

American Hawai'i Cruises

    SS Independence
    Homeport: Maui
    Passenger capacity: 867
    In Hawaii: Since 1980
    Status: Will remain idle pending bankruptcy court proceedings. The Federal Maritime Commission has guaranteed $24 million of outstanding debt on the ship and therefore will have a critical say in what happens to it next.

United States Lines

    The Patriot
    Homeport: O'ahu
    Passenger capacity: 1,212
    In Hawai'i: Since December 2000
    Status: Will remain idle pending bankruptcy court proceedings and until discussions are completed with Carnival Corp. Carnival's Holland America Line unit sold the 1,212-passenger vessel to American Classic last year for $115 million and holds an $80 million mortgage on the ship. Carnival, the world's largest cruise line company, is deciding what to do with the ship.

    Two new, 1,900-passenger ships are being built and are set to arrive in Hawai'i in 2004 and 2005.
    Status: Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding unit, owed $300 million, is listed in court papers as American Classic's largest creditor. American Classic said it intends to work with Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Maritime Administration to maintain construction on the two ships currently being built in Mississippi.

• Mainland operations

    Delta Queen Steamboat Co.
    Status: Continues to operate. About 30 employees retained in the company's New Orleans office, and 80 aboard the Delta Queen.

    Delta Queen Coastal Voyages
    Status: All four vessels shut down.