With the push of a button, and without the aid of anchor, the captain of a brand new, high-tech cruise ship, the Norwegian Star, secure that huge ship in a single position, in, say, Nawiliwili Harbor. With the wave of
With the push of a button, and without the aid of anchor, the captain of a brand new, high-tech cruise ship, the Norwegian Star, secure that huge ship in a single position, in, say, Nawiliwili Harbor.
With the wave of a hand, a member of the Hawai’i Pilots Association can deny entry into that same harbor for that same ship.
It is the pilots, mandated by state law to be on the bridge and have navigational control of foreign-flagged cruise ships seeking to dock at Nawiliwili and other harbors in the state, that control the fate of not only a multi-million-dollar ship, but a multi-million-dollar industry as well.
And while the nine members of the Hawai’i Pilots Association have been invited aboard these high-tech floating hotels to become familiar with the controls and features, they won’t make a decision for another month or two about whether or not they feel comfortable enough at the helm of the Norwegian Star to assist it into and out of Nawiliwili and the state’s other harbors, said Dave Lyman, association president.
He wouldn’t comment for the record on whether or not he personally or the other eight association members feel comfortable enough to safely bring the Star into Nawiliwili. A press conference will be held when their decision is made, he said.
“They’re definitely going to Kaua’i,” said Stephanie Loeber, a senior account executive with Lou Hammond & Associates that handles the NCL account.
In order to make sure Kaua’i is included in the itinerary that includes stops in Hilo and Kona on the Big Island, Lahaina on Maui and Honolulu as well as Fanning Island in Kirabati, information that either Port Allen or Nawiliwili will be the port was included in the promotional materials, she said.
“NCL is working really closely with their pilots, and various cruise lines have invited pilots to come on board to maneuver that-sized ship, so then when the new ship comes out, (it will be determined) if it is possible to go into Nawiliwili.
“So, quite frankly, it hasn’t been determined as of yet,” she said. “It’s going to be determined within the next couple of months.”
Some of the pilots association members are now in Alaska waters aboard some ships around 900 feet in length, but Lyman preferred to refer to the experiences as familiarization and evaluation rather than training.
Without the pilots’ blessing and assistance, the 964-foot-long Norwegian Star, set to begin weekly calls on Kaua’i in mid-December, won’t be able to call on Nawiliwili or Port Allen. Both are listed as potential Kaua’i stops in Norwegian Cruise Line promotional information about the new Hawai’i cruises.
It is a high-stakes game, with Norwegian Cruise Line wanting desperately to call on Kaua’i, as passenger surveys indicate Kaua’i is the favorite Hawai’i stop for its cruisers.
“This is the ongoing saga of Nawiliwili Harbor,” said Sue Kanoho, executive director of the Kaua’i Visitors Bureau and chair of a separate cruise ship committee.
“They put some pilots through an additional training program and on the boats, and they’re hoping with a positive spin that they will be able with additional training be able to bring the boats in. However, there is no guarantee,” she said.
The issues are safety, and getting familiar with the new technology the newer, larger ships have, said Kanoho. “Certainly, I respect that if they feel bringing in a big ship runs the possibility of going around and blocking the harbor, that’s a very significant concern and obviously would affect a lot more people on this island,” she said.
“Blocking a Matson (or Young Brothers) barge from coming in for two weeks wouldn’t be a good thing. So that’s an issue,” she explained.
“The other side of it is, hey, if you can take the technology that’s available now in these large ships, which is supposed to be very significant,” with the boats being able to turn on a dime and be positioned through use of satellites and other cutting-edge technologies, and learn enough of it to use it to allow the ships to safely make it in and out of Nawiliwili, then it should at least be considered, she said.
The Norwegian Star was built specifically for cruising Hawaiian waters, and has specific features (side propulsion systems, etc.) installed to allow it to enter and exit Nawiliwili Harbor and negotiate its S-turn without even getting tugboat assistance.
“I feel there are a few other options that can be pursued. It sounds like they (the pilots) are now looking at those possibilities, as opposed to a flat ‘no,'” Kanoho said.
“The good news is they have come off of an absolute ‘no way’ to ‘OK, we’re going to get some additional training and see if we can actually be on the boats and see how they maneuver.’
“Which is great,” she added. “That’s an opportunity for us to hopefully get more reassurance to the Hawai’i pilots so that they can bring the ships in.”
She said the committee will by the end of this month check in with the association to see how the training is progressing, as this is the eve of the cruise ship “second season,” when large international cruise ships which had been in Alaska come to Hawai’i for the warmer fall and winter.
Immune, really, from the controversy, are the Hawai’i Tug & Barge tugboat captains that when necessary push certain cruise ships in and out of Nawiliwili. Lihu’e resident Jim Spies is the regular Nawiliwili captain, aboard the Catherine Foss, said Mark Cohen, vice president of maritime operations for Hawai’i Tug & Barge.
Warren Ditch, the Honolulu port captain for the company, grew up on Kaua’i, and another Honolulu-based captain, Mike Ka’iwi, also has Kaua’i roots, Cohen said.
In anticipation of more cruise-ship activity in Nawiliwili, the Catherine Foss will by December make way for a larger, more powerful tug, the ‘Eleu, currently based on O’ahu, explained Cohen.
The tugboat captains, while decision-makers on their own craft and with the ability to also decide not to assist a cruise ship if conditions aren’t safe, normally would not refuse the work, Cohen said.
The tugs are powerful and built for open-ocean conditions, and the captains are experienced seamen, so if conditions were so bad that the tug captains didn’t feel comfortable assisting cruise ships into and out of Nawiliwili, the cruise-ship captains would probably see unsafe conditions and not attempt to arrive or depart in such conditions, Cohen said.
“If it’s that rough, the (cruise) ship’s not going to come in,” he said.
The tug captains are licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard, and get lots of on-the-job experience. Coordination between the tug and cruise ships happens via marine radio, and onboard radar and other navigational instruments help maintain safety and accuracy, he said.
Still, Nawiliwili is regarded as one of Hawai’i’s most difficult ports to navigate in and out of. A representative with American Hawaii Cruises once said it takes no less than 100 navigational moves to get in or out of Kaua’i’s main port.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
