President Biden signed a bill Monday that temporarily waives the regulation. Why not just repeal the law?
The PVSA is a protectionist maritime law that requires that large vessels owned by American companies, transporting passengers between U.S. ports, be made in America and crewed by Americans. It is similar to the Jones Act, which establishes similar laws for cargo transportation.
It is a hamfisted attempt to heavily tip the scales in favor of American shipping and maritime interests. It's not even subtext: An explainer from Customs and Border Protection states outright that its intent is to provide a "legal structure that guarantees a coastwise monopoly to American shipping and thereby promotes development of the American merchant marine." The purpose of the law is to "advance the United States merchant marine and fleet by restricting the use of [non-compliant] vessels in the United States territorial waters."
But 135 years later, that's not how things have panned out. Colin Grabow, a trade policy analyst with the Cato Institute, points out that this law has not resulted in an American cruise ship manufacturing base. America has not built a cruise ship since 1958; the law is protectionism for an industry that doesn't exist.
Instead, cruise ship companies work around the law by stopping in foreign ports between U.S. ports. For the Alaska cruise, that means stops in Canada. This, amusingly, means that a federal law that supposedly exists to protect American maritime interests has in reality led to cruise ships having to make stops in Canada and increasing that country's tourism revenue instead. No wonder the Canadian government lobbies to keep the PVSA intact.
