The Bar Harbor Town Council (Maine USA) voted to scrap discussions with the cruise shipping industry about reducing its impact on the port town this season and instead will focus on ways to do that in 2023/beyond.
In December 2021, the Council adopted a draft proposal to eliminate cruise ship calls during 2022 from liners with passenger capacity 3000+.
However, at their meeting earlier this week, councilors agreed with the assessment of Kevin Sutherland, the town’s manager, that it would be too hard to change the 2022 cruise season and would likely result in a lawsuit against the port town.
Sutherland recommended the council to authorize him as well as select two councilors to negotiate with the industry for 2023/beyond, with the goal of reducing the cruise passenger loads that arrive in Port Bar Harbor ME.
Some councilors noted that residents continued to contact them about reducing the 2022 cruise season and proposed a motion to reduce cruise ship calls for the 2022 season by 30%.
The discussion has been underway with the cruise industry group CLIA for at least two years now and has led to delays.
The council authorized Sutherland to move forward with the cruise industry negotiations.