Complications for Portland’s hopeful cruise port

Portland, Oregon, United States is a city on the rise. Aside from many other infrastructural initiatives and city planning that have made it a very desirable city, there is now a $21 million port being readied for a spring opening, along with a berth designed to accommodate the world’s largest cruise ships that cost a cool $7 million.

This big budget expansion has run into a bit of a snag however, as changing US regulations concerning international cruise ships docking at US ports brings the entire plan into question.

The proposed plan will involve any internationally flagged ship to spend at least 48 hours in a foreign port after leaving the US, and for every two days spent docked in the US, the ship would be required to spend  over one full day in a foreign port.

Portland’s transportation director Jeff Munroe said, “It could be potentially devastating. There’s no question about that.” Devastating indeed, for a city that has banked huge sums on the cruise industry only to find that the rules of the game may be changing. Only time will tell if Portland’s unwitting gamble will pay off.