MIAMI (AP) - The state of Florida has filed a lawsuit against the federal government, demanding that cruise ships be allowed to start sailing immediately.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said April 8 the federal no-sail order is outdated and hurts the state as the industry generates billions for the economy and employs tens of thousands of Floridians.
“We don’t believe the federal government has the right to mothball a major industry for over a year based on very little evidence and very little data,”said the Republican governor, a frequent critic of the President Joe Biden administration.
The CDC shut down sailing last March, under the administration of then-President Donald Trump, when several Coronavirus outbreaks were tied to ships worldwide.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines last week for how cruise lines could operate when voyages return, but has not lifted its no-sail order or said when it might change the order.
The lawsuit filed in federal court said the new guidance doesn’t take into consideration another CDC statement made that fully vaccinated people can now travel at low risk to themselves.
Alaska, like Florida, is heavily dependent on cruise ship traffic for its tourism industry, but faces a separate legal and logistical problem. A century-old federal law requires foreign-flagged ships, which includes all of the larger cruise ships that visit the state, must stop in a foreign port on their voyage. Canada, however, has closed its waters to the ships to guard against spreading COVID-19. Even if the CDC allows sailings to resume, Alaska would still be left out unless Canada opens its waters.
Florida is the nation’s cruise capital with three of the world’s busiest ports: Miami, Port Canaveral near Kennedy Space Center, and Port Everglades near Fort Lauderdale.
DeSantis has maintained the ban disproportionately hurts Florida and has said that cruising has resumed in much of the world, forcing Americans to fly to other ports in the nearby Bahamas. Industry leaders say there have been no new outbreaks tied to their ships.
“People are going to cruise one way or another. The question is are we going to do it out of Florida, which is the number one place to do it in the world, or are they going to be doing it out of the Bahamas or other locations?”DeSantis said.
Michael Winkleman, a maritime lawyer, said he does not expect such a lawsuit to succeed in court. But DeSantis’ advocating for the cruise industry in a public way could change the public perception on the matter, and pressure the federal government to allow ships to resume operations, Winkleman said.
“The reason why this would be futile is CDC officials have wide discretion in how they do their federally mandated job,”he said. “From a big-picture perspective, I don’t think there is any reason why cruises cannot sail safely.”
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