The Belfast City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to limit the size of cruise ships that can allow passengers to disembark at city-owned facilities.
The ordinance amendments would bar any vessel certified to carry 50 or more passengers from boarding or disembarking passengers, “including by tender, at the City Landing or other city property or marine facilities,” City Manager Erin Herbig said in her report to the council.
The measure comes at a time when cruise ship traffic is being limited in other coastal towns. Bar Harbor recently rejected a proposal to expand passenger numbers and loosen regulations on cruise ship arrivals. The proposal revisited a previous ordinance that limited cruise ship passenger visitations to 1,000 daily.
The council questioned why 50 was the number being used to cap the number of passengers.
“When we’re talking about people on the vessel, does that number include workers?” council member Brenda Bonneville asked before the vote.
Harbor Master Kathy Given specified that number 49 is typically used for Coast Guard licensing, and that it refers only to passengers — crew and extended crew are excluded from that count.