For Safety's Sake
March 30, 2005
When a cruise ship comes into a U.S. port, there are several stages of security and safety screens through which it must pass, such as Center for Disease Control assessments, U.S. Coast Guard requirements, and inspections from the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.
In the past, passengers of cruise ships had been inspected by the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) while they were on the ship and before they reach a U.S. port of call. Recently, however, the government agency has implemented a new policy that has many harbor-side business owners and at least one senator worrying. Now, the CBP has changed the policy so that passengers are inspected once they reach the destination.
Many business owners feel that the new policy will delay passengers from being able to get into their ports to visit shops and restaurants, thereby hurting the local economies that rely on the cruise traffic. They're worried that not only will many passenger be delayed much longer before being able to get off the ship, but that some will even decide not to disembark at all. Senator Olympia Snowe has the same concerns.
Snowe, a Republican Senator from Maine, has listened to many business owners from Bar Harbor, a busy northeastern sea port, express their reservations about the new policy. She has asked the commissioner of the CBP, Robert C. Bonner, to change the policy back to what it was prior to this new initiative, but so far the new policy remains in place. However, a spokesperson for the CBP did state that while the new policy will remain intact, it is possible that some ships' passengers will be searched before reaching the port on a case-by-case basis.
This situation is just one tiny thread in the huge blanket of policies that the CBP has in place to protect the U.S. borders. For the business owners at the ports of call, however, it may have more of a negative impact than a positive one. Also, how this new policy could affect the number of cruise passengers who disembark at a U.S. port of call remains to be seen.
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