US Passenger Vessel Operators Seek Financial Assistance

U.S. passenger vessel operators suffering low ridership and large economic losses amid the COVID-19 pandemic are urging President Donald Trump to include the hard-hit sector in the administration's plans to provide economic assistance to American businesses that have experienced financial hardship due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The Passenger Vessel Association (PVA), a trade group representing the domestic passenger vessel industry, shared a letter it sent to President Trump urging him to take immediate action to include U.S. passenger vessel operators in the administration's financial assistance plans being rolled out in response to the outbreak.

"As tax-paying U.S. companies, employing thousands of U.S. citizens, we urge you to remember the important role that the domestic passenger vessel industry plays in travel, tourism, and transportation by including our industry in your economic relief plans," said PVA 2020 President, Colleen Stephens, in the letter.

PVA stressed that economic damage is being inflicted on its members in every region of the nation, citing also that many PVA members are small family-owned operations.

The association noted that as discretionary travel plummets, PVA members are seeing their customer base diminish and, with weeks of reduced or no revenue, their ability to meet debt obligations and to pay employees will be jeopardized.