Efforts to boost tourism and travel through cruise ships and a passenger ferry at Eastport and Campobello are being hampered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) decisions not to provide clearance service for passengers entering the U.S. in certain instances. Along with four midsize cruise ships this fall, the decision affects a new Eastport/Campobello passenger ferry service. CPB officials will be coming to Eastport the week of May 6 to discuss with port officials not only the clearing of passengers on those cruise ships but also the new ferry service.
      According to Chris Gardner, executive director of the Eastport Port Authority, CBP informed the port authority earlier this year that it is not be able to clear four cruise ships -- the Viking Neptune, Viking Mars, Volendam and the Roald Amundsen -- because of staffing issues when the visits are scheduled this fall. However, he notes that Bar Harbor is staffed by CBP and has no cruise ship arrivals on the dates in question and Portland, also fully staffed by CBP, has foreign-flagged vessels on only two of the dates. The port authority reached out to U.S. Senator Susan Collins' office about the issue, and she raised the matter during an April 10 hearing on the 2025 budget before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee, during which she questioned Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about the issue.
      Gardner notes that, during a meeting held by CruiseMaine last month to prepare for the upcoming cruise ship season, three slides prepared by CBP showed that a Vessel Entrance Clearance System had been introduced at Portland and Bar Harbor but not at Eastport. Gardner says the port authority is willing to make reasonable infrastructure investments, especially with technology, so that CBP can provide greater service for clearing passengers to enter the U.S.
      In a statement, a CBP spokesperson comments that CBP "is responsible for securing our nation's borders while providing a safe and secure processing environment for the traveling public and our officers. All requests for new or expanded service are carefully reviewed to ensure proper staffing, infrastructure and facilities are in place in order to accomplish our vital national security mission. CBP is currently working with stakeholders, including the port authority, to confirm requests for services meet procedural guidelines."

Passenger ferry planned
      The seasonal passenger ferry initially began running at the end of last summer between Eastport and Welshpool Landing on Campobello, and the service was planning to continue this summer with two to three trips a week for up to 12 passengers.
      Ron Beckwith, president of the Friars Bay Development Association (FBDA) on Campobello and former superintendent of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park, says the project is the result of many years of planning, hard work and financial investment on the part of FBDA and Butch Harris of Eastport Windjammers, who would transport the passengers aboard one of his vessels.
      Beckwith says, "The Campobello/Eastport ferry has been a long time in the making and is an attempt to reestablish the traditional connection between Campobello and Eastport. We at the FBDA believe this service to be mutually beneficial to both communities. In the end we believe that we are all one community around Passamaquoddy Bay from Lubec to Eastport and St. Andrews to Deer Island and Campobello."
      Passengers leaving Eastport would travel in the morning to Campobello, arriving at 9 a.m. (AT), and be transported from the Welshpool wharf to the Canada Border Services Agency office at the Lubec Narrows for processing and then taken to the Roosevelt park or an island tour if they desire. Passengers leaving Campobello would depart around 10 a.m. (AT) for Eastport and would have two or three hours in Eastport and would then be returned to Campobello, where the Eastport passengers would be waiting to return to Eastport.
      Beckwith believes there are many potential benefits for both communities. "It makes seasonal travel between Campobello and Eastport quicker and more enjoyable than a 50-mile car ride for residents and visitors to both communities," he points out. In Eastport, passengers would have easy access from the breakwater to all of the downtown attractions. On Campobello, transportation would be available for a fee from Peter Harwerth's Campobello sightseeing operation. Economic and cultural ties would be strengthened between the communities, and visitors to Eastport could easily travel to Campobello and potentially to Lubec so that they could take in the attractions of those communities, including the Roosevelt park, Herring Cove Provincial Park and golf course, East Quoddy Head, West Quoddy Head, the McCurdy Smokehouse Museum and Lubec's downtown attractions. Along with island tours, hiking, bicycling and golf would all be available. Visitors to Campobello would be able to take a convenient and enjoyable trip to Eastport to take in the sites and sounds there. "It boosts the attractiveness of the region as a whole for tourism," Beckwith says.
      Those plans now are on hold, as Beckwith says he was advised locally that CBP would not be processing passengers when they disembark in Eastport. He has followed up with supervisors in Calais, who told Beckwith to submit a business plan but that he should not expect a positive outcome. He has also reached out to the state's congressional delegation.
      Beckwith comments, "The decision by Bar Harbor to restrict visitor landings in Bar Harbor has created a tremendous opportunity for communities around Passamaquoddy Bay to take advantage of the new interest in our region. I like to refer to this as the 'Quoddy Triangle' comprising Eastport, Campobello/Lubec and St. Andrews. Eastport has the deep-water facility large enough to accommodate small and large cruise vessels. Small cruise vessels and excursion boats from the larger vessels could move between the three points of the Triangle and offer a tremendous international tourism opportunity to their passengers. The time to plan and act is now. A remarkable spirit of cooperation exists among these communities. I believe accommodating the larger vessels on an ongoing basis would be difficult or impossible for any one of these communities acting alone, but together we have the capacity to seize this opportunity responsibly."
      Beckwith observes, "I have been involved in tourism on both sides of the border for many years, and the confluence of a range of factors has created a 'perfect storm' for us to take advantage of this new opportunity. And of course the recent designation of a large swath of Hancock and Washington counties as the Downeast National Heritage Area can only serve to bring yet more attention to the region."