Bigger may be better for profits, but safety paramount In platform and springboard diving, both Olympic events, degree of difficulty is a number assigned to a dive based on how hard it is to complete. Judges’ scores multiplied by degree
Bigger may be better for profits, but safety paramount
In platform and springboard diving, both Olympic events, degree of difficulty is a number assigned to a dive based on how hard it is to complete. Judges’ scores multiplied by degree of difficulty give the dive its total score.
In navigation, that same term, “degree of difficulty,” is used to describe how difficult a port is to enter or exit based on more intricate maneuvers than a diver completes during his or her routine.
It is Nawiliwili Harbor’s navigational degree of difficulty which, as reported earlier this month, has caused more than a few cruise ships to sail right past because wind and sea conditions weren’t conducive to safe docking experiences.
Conditions at Nawiliwili and other neighbor island ports were studied extensively by American Classic Voyages before it began construction on two new cruise ships expected to begin cruising from Hilo to Nawiliwili in 2002 and 2003.
The first American-flagged cruise ships to be built in the United States in nearly a half-century are being tailor-made to navigate the Nawiliwili Harbor “S” turn, requiring some 100 separate maneuvers by ships’ captains every time they enter or exit the port, said Bill Anonsen, vice president of maritime affairs for American Classic Voyages.
The company’s American Hawai’i Cruises brings the 682-foot-long, 10-deck-tall SS Independence to Nawiliwili each Friday, and the sister ship ms Patriot, at 704 feet long and 12 decks tall, arrives each Sunday for an overnight stay. The Patriot is a United States Lines ship.
The two ships the company has under construction now in Mississippi will be 840-feet long, while other cruise ships new and old are over 900 feet, some longer than 1,000 feet.
While the technology of the newer ships is phenomenal, with various thrusters and state of the art propulsion systems, and while tugs which push the floating cities are bigger and more powerful, the fact remains that the harbors they call on haven’t been altered.
“I think we all recognize that the harbor hasn’t changed,” he said of Nawiliwili.
So, when American Classic Voyages began researching the size to make its two new ships, Nawiliwili was put under the microscope, with 20 years worth of wind and sea conditions studied.
The question the company asked was: “If we wanted to maintain schedule integrity, how big a ship could we do it (with) and be able to come in with the varied conditions you have throughout the course of a calendar year?
“We would loved to have built a ship much bigger, because, of course, we would be able to accommodate more guests and more amenities, but it just wasn’t practical,” he continued.
Recent experiences bear out that deduction.
The 964-foot-long Infinity had been scheduled to call on Nawiliwili, or Port Allen, over the past few Saturdays, but decided wind and weather conditions weren’t favorable for safe landings, bypassing the island while hula dancers, greeters, taxis, rental cars, shuttles and volunteers at both ports eagerly gathered for the scheduled arrivals.
Even the Patriot, under Capt. Mark Zarynoff, a few weeks back had to bypass Nawiliwili during high wind and sea conditions, Anonsen explained, because attempting to dock may have compromised passenger, crew, vessel and port safety.
It created inconveniences and worries for Kaua’i residents gathering to greet relatives aboard, but such a decision is made solely on safety considerations, Anonsen explained.
“Even for some of the smaller ships, Nawiliwili is just a very difficult port,” he said.
Safety issues take precedence over schedule integrity, with the safety for the passengers, crew, vessel, harbor and community all taken into consideration, he continued.
“This is our home. We’re not going to take any risks to jeopardize that relationship that we have, in particular with the community,” not to mention damage to passengers, crew, ports and vessels, he said.
American Hawai’i Cruises has been doing business in Hawai’i since 1980.
Business Editor Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
