Rockland is allowing more cruise ships
Rockland officials voted Monday night to allow more cruise ships to dock and anchor in the harbor.
The Rockland City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Monday night to increase the number of small ships with fewer than 500 passengers allowed to berth in the harbor from two to three, and allow one large ship of up to 3,000 passengers to berth per week during September and October.
The original limits were put in place in 2018 in response to the increasing number of cruise ships coming to Rockland while it grew as a tourist destination. But the city is moving in a different direction than other tourism hubs in Maine. Several Bar Harbor businesses are suing the town for limiting cruise ship passengers to 1,000 per day, arguing the cap breaks federal law.
Under the change, Rockland Harbor could see up to three more large ships during the September and October period, plus the additional small ships. City Manager Tom Luttrell said the increase wasn’t proposed because of changes in infrastructure or capacity, but because the harbor master and Harbor Management Commission decided to revise the wording to better reflect maritime and cruise industry standards. In the process, they allowed a few more ships.
“It’s just the mindset of the Harbor Management Commission,” Luttrell said. “They were trying to clean the language up to make it more understandable. I guess the language was old and didn’t make much sense for what we can actually do today.”
At the Wednesday agenda-setting meeting, Rockland Mayor Louise MacLellan-Ruf expressed concerns over the number of ships to be allowed in Rockland Harbor.
“We don’t want to become Bar Harbor,” MacLellan-Ruf said. “We can’t afford it.”
Harbor Master Molly Eddy said at the Wednesday meeting that she doesn’t anticipate seeing many more ships coming in, but Rockland can handle any addition. The policy change would exclude small international ships that need a secure port, since they often don’t bring enough revenue to justify the resources. Rockland doesn’t see many of these ships anyway.
Eddy said at the Monday meeting that the money these cruise ships bring in helps pay for much-needed infrastructure improvements for the harbor, including new floats. She said the Harbor Management Commission will continue to monitor and adjust the policy as needed.