NCL Corp. Ltd. lost $35.1 million in the second quarter as fuel prices and startup costs from the expansion of the company's interisland Hawai'i cruises continued to rise.

Revenues grew 33.5 percent to $499.1 million compared to the second quarter of last year because of increases in capacity and net yields, which measure revenues minus expenses for each day and are widely considered a key indicator of a company's pricing performance. The improvement in net yields resulted from higher passenger ticket prices, partly from capacity growth in the company's "premium" Hawai'i cruise ship business.

Second-quarter operating income grew to $19.6 million, up from $0.9 million for the same period last year, NCL said in a news release yesterday.

But the company also dealt with higher fuel costs — which grew 55.5 percent year-over-year — as well as increased interest costs and foreign exchange translation losses. NCL also reported a continued increase in payroll and startup costs for its Hawai'i cruise ship operation, which added its third vessel, the Pride of Hawai'i, this summer.

"Though it is never pleasing to report a net loss, nevertheless we are pleased with our revenue performance and our cost control efforts," said Colin Veitch, president and chief executive officer of NCL Corp.

Veitch noted, however, that softer pricing in the Caribbean, "coupled with higher fuel prices, increased interest costs, and continued higher operating costs in our Hawai'i operations, will continue to put pressure on our results in the back half of 2006."

Miami-based NCL Corp. oversees the operations of Norwegian Cruise Line, NCL America and Orient Lines.