Passenger-free cruise ships start docking at Port Los Angeles in January-February 2021

   December 29, 2020 ,   Cruise Industry

Cruise ships without passengers are scheduled for technical calls periodically at Port Los Angeles California in January and February 2021 as the first steps for meeting the USA's federal regulations before sailings (suspended in March 2020) can resume.

According to port officials, over 2 dozen liners from the fleets of HAL-Holland America Line, NCL-Norwegian Cruise Line and Princess Cruises will be docking for food, supplies, services and fueling. Authorities have not yet set a date for US cruises to start, but the CDC agency released a “Framework for Conditional Sailing Order” outlining a phased resumption of cruise shipping operations.

In 2020, 93 cruises (70+%) of all scheduled ship calls at Port Los Angeles were canceled due to the pandemic. Official port stats revealed that these cancellations amounted to ~USD 100 million loss in economic activity on the LA waterfront.

Each cruise ship call at Port Los Angeles contributes nearly USD 1 million to the local economy.