Sponsors
Introduced July 30, 2025 by Mike Lee · Last progress July 30, 2025
The bill opens U.S. domestic passenger routes to more foreign-built/owned vessels—boosting consumer choice and competition—while preserving U.S. legal protections; the trade-off is reduced demand for U.S. maritime labor and shipbuilding, potential safety/oversight concerns, and risks to national surge capacity.
Passengers and U.S. coastal communities gain more ferry/cruise options and potentially lower fares or new routes because foreign-built or foreign-owned passenger vessels can serve domestic routes.
Small operators can enter U.S. coastal passenger markets more easily because foreign-flag or foreign-built vessels can operate without costly reflagging or U.S.-build requirements, lowering barriers to entry.
Passengers and crew remain protected because domestic voyages default to U.S. safety, labor, and consumer laws and the bill preserves regulatory clarity and consistent enforcement for routes that touch foreign ports unless a specific exemption is granted.
U.S. seafarers and maritime workers could lose jobs or see downward pressure on wages because foreign-crewed vessels may operate domestic routes without U.S. citizenship or Navy Reserve service requirements.
U.S. shipbuilding and related construction jobs could decline because passenger vessels would no longer have to meet coastwise (U.S.-build) requirements, reducing domestic demand for new builds and repairs.
National security and surge sealift/emergency capacity could be weakened if fewer passenger vessels are U.S.-built or U.S.-crewed and therefore less available or qualified for defense/emergency support roles.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Removes passenger-only coastwise restrictions so passenger vessels can operate between U.S. ports (including via foreign ports) and updates documentation/citizenship rules.
Removes the federal passenger-only coastwise restrictions so vessels that carry passengers between U.S. ports (including when routed via a foreign port) are no longer governed by the Passenger Vessel Services Act and related coastwise/Jones Act rules. It also changes documentation and citizenship eligibility rules to include passenger vessels and exempts such vessels from certain citizenship and Navy Reserve-service requirements, while saying that other U.S. laws still apply unless an exemption is expressly provided.