Search

As the European river cruise industry continues to boom, seemingly with no end in sight, the growth potential for river cruising in the U.S. is clouded, in large part as [...]

To help usher in a revival of American cruise ship operations, port operators on the West Coast have quietly been trying to modify an archaic law severely restricting foreign-flagged vessels [...]

There has been proposal in the passenger cruise shipping industry to amend the 111-year-old passenger Services Act (PSA), which prohibits non-US-flag passenger cruise vessels form sailing between two consecutive US ports. Likewise, PSA compels that passenger ships operating between US ports must be US flagged. The proposed amendments aim to permit foreign flag vessels to operate between US ports when there is no US-flag ship offering the same service.

WASHINGTON - If a Senate maritime subcommittee has its way, travel agents could soon have a wealth of new U.S. itineraries and ports to sell to their clients. The subcommittee […]

Cruise ships would like to call upon ports in several U.S. cities, but an archaic law forbids the practice. Proponents of change say an amended act would encourage short-term travel [...]

WASHINGTON -- Support is building in Congress to change an 1886 law that bars virtually every large cruise ship from sailing directly b tween two U.S. ports. Under the Passenger […]

The US Customs Service has fined UK's Cunard Lines Ltd $105,000 for violating US' cabotage law. Cunard Lines' cruise ship Queen Elizabeth 2 was found to have picked up passengers at one US port and disembarked them at another US port, a clear violation of the Passenger Services Act of 1886 (PSA). The shipping line is appealing the penalty claiming that the QE2 had planned to abide by the PSA.

Great Lakes is attracting anew the interests of cruise lines and ports despite the 1886 Passenger Services Act (PSA). Examples of interest groups include Germany's Hapag-Lloyd and St. Louis, MO-based Clipper Cruises whose Great Lakes cruise schedules are nearly or fully booked. However, PSA only allows US-made, US-registered and US-run passenger ships to operate between US ports. Interest groups have maintained that any changes to PSA will affect the entire US cabotage regulations.

The proposal that the Passenger of Services Act (PSA) of 1886 be amended or repealed and that the Jones Act be preserved is logically inconsistent. The proposal seeks to open the US cruise industry by repealing or amending the PSA, but at the same time does not touch on the closed nature of the US cargo shipment industry as a result of the Jones Act. The same rationale used to enact the laws dictates that any proposal to open the domestic shipping industry to competition must include both the cruise and the cargo shipment industries.

Passenger Services Act (PSA), enacted in 1886, has become a setback for cruise ships to operate along the US coast due to its restrictive provisions. Under the law, a cruise with a 100% American itinerary must use a US-built ship, which must be handled, owned and served by Americans. Potential cruise ship operators say that PSA is being protected by the big carriers, who are more concerned about the Jones Law, which prohibits foreign ships from serving between US ports.

The tourism industry loses business worth hundreds of millions a year because of the Passenger Act of 1886. The Port of San Francisco estimates that its losses every year reach $25 mil. The protectionist law constrains passenger and cargo vessels plying the US to US trade route to only those built, owned, and manned by American citizens and registered in the US.

Carnival Cruise Lines Pres. Bob Dickinson reports the need to amend the Passenger Act of 1886 to stimulate the cruise business in Alaska and Gulf coast states. Dickinson, who notes that Carnival Cruise will not compete in domestic trades where there are US-flag carrier operators, believes that maritime labor unions are afraid that a new law will extend to the cargo shipping industry. Dickinson, in criticizing the proposal to require foreign vessel operators to order new ships from US ship-builders, stresses that US shipyards are not capable of building deep-water cruise ships.

Legislators representing port interests want congressional hearings on a proposal to allow foreign-flag vessels to use domestic US cruise routes. The 1886 Passenger Vessel Services Act, according to the lawmakers, hampers the creation of new tourism opportunities which can provide employment and revenues for several districts. The letter from the 12 House members was sent to Reps. Bud Shuster and Norman Y. Mineta.

An alliance composed mainly of producers and buyers of bulk commodities is set to have the Jones Act and the Passenger Act repealed. These cabotage laws serve to limit domestic freight and passenger service to vessels built, owned and manned in the US. Called the Jones Act Reform Coalition, the alliance employs two full-time staffers and has allocated $500,000 to have the legislation abolished.

Congress may soon consider measures to reform the 1886 Passenger Vessel Act to allow foreign-flag cruise ships to operate in US coastal and inland routes. Reform advocates are expecting Rep. James Oberstar to call for hearings during the summer session of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for dismantling the monopoly of US carriers on domestic shipping. Although opposed by the Seafarers International Union, any reform legislation will be supported by the Port of San Francisco, the American Assn. of Port Authorities and the International Council of Cruise Lines.