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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, October 25, 2002

Cruise legislation planned

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye plans to introduce draft legislation in the next Congress to prompt discussions about a possible future for Norwegian Cruise Line as Hawai'i's dedicated cruise line.

"We're working on that right now," Inouye, D-Hawai'i, said yesterday of the legislation. "I'm hoping that we can have at least a draft of legislation that can be introduced as soon as possible so that interested parties can look at that and chew upon it."

Inouye's office and officials for Norwegian Cruise Line have been talking about a possible exemption to the Passenger Services Act, which requires all foreign-owned, foreign-built cruise ships with foreign crews to stop at a foreign port between U.S. ports.

To comply with that law, Norwegian's seven-day Hawai'i cruises must include a roundtrip to the island of Fanning south of Honolulu.

Norwegian officials said yesterday that they could not immediately comment on Inouye's plans for legislation.

Inouye has said he would consider supporting an exemption to the Passenger Services Act to allow foreign-registered ships to operate domestically, but only under strict conditions.

In September, Inouye's office said that as part of discussions, Norwegian had committed to using a U.S. crew and establishing a U.S. subsidiary that would comply with federal requirements and allow it to run interisland cruises.

Miami-based Norwegian began operating seven-day Hawai'i interisland cruises late last year. The company is a subsidiary of NCL Holdings, which was acquired by Hong Kong-based Star Cruises in 2000.

Under the Passenger Services Act, only U.S.-built, -owned and -crewed cruise ships may take on and discharge passengers between consecutive U.S. ports.

Norwegian Cruise Line officials have said they are able to live within the law and have no plans to alter Fanning Island port calls.