They’re a little anxious in Alaska these days as the US government considers changes to a 131 year old law that prohibits foreign-owned vessels from transporting passengers from one U.S. port to another without stopping at a foreign port in between.
In the past the procedure has been to spend a few hours in a BC port on the way to Alaskan waters, sometimes allowing the passengers to spend time in the port other times merely the “technical stopâ€
That would help to generate tourist dollars here in town.
except for the fact they’d want to spend them in Vancouver or on the island instead.
Not every Cruise Ship can make the stop in Vancouver or on the Island, just by numbers alone these ports cannot handle all the ships which travel up to Alaska. We would benifit if this new interpretation was enforced.
It is a preferential trade restriction of sort benefitting domestic (US) carriers.
A form of protectionism if you will.
Although, hard to justify in this new world wide “free trade” environment.
But let’s not forget that if this “cabotage” law is applied across the board, the result could be devastating for our Canadian domestic air transport carriers.
However, I do see the benefit for Rupert if Alaska looses its argument.