Carnival Corp. (CCL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) defended its $236 million U.S. government contract to provide ship-based housing after Hurricane Katrina, telling lawmakers on Wednesday the firm was charging only what it would have earned from its regular cruise business.

The contract for three ships to provide emergency housing for 7,116 people has been criticized by some in Congress, who have said the price tag was higher than the company would have earned from its normal business.

Terry Thornton, vice president of marketing planning at Carnival Cruise Lines, told the U.S. House of Representatives Committee investigating the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina that it was a competitively bid contract…

The operator of Canival, Cunard, Princess Holland America and other cruise lines, reported net profit for its 2005 third-quarter rose 11.7 percent to $1.15 billion compared with third-quarter 2004. In its September 19 earnings release, the cruise operator credited the rise to higher ticket prices, onboard revenues and, to a lesser extent, higher occupancy….{{link http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-11-03T011131Z_01_N02246597_RTRIDST_0_HURRICANES-CARNIVAL.XML MORE}}

Send post as PDF to

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!