12-05-2009, 04:23 PM
Liz,
You may have contacted the wrong folks during your search, there are no laws directly prohibiting private passenger travel aboard freight vessels, there may be companies that are prohibited by their insurance companies to allow paying passengers. Some of those companies’ insurers may require all persons aboard to be officers or “deck hands” (a little hint). Unlike airlines, Ship Captains receive their license by vessel weight and not by ship content type, after putting in the hours for mine - 65ton or less is or rather was the primary vessel weight for a basic Captains license several years back and they qualify for commercial passenger as well as Cargo/commercial contract.
If using such ships for travel is something you really want to do, I would recommend digging into the matter deeper as there are indeed many differing types of vessels that you can book passage on.
Though Hawaii may be a little more difficult to find with regard to transport to and from the mainland… there are plenty of differing ships to and from Hawaii to make such a venture possible. Some of the smaller barge service companies (vs. Matson) may be more inclined to offer such passage as well as research vessels and other vessels. You can find articles on this matter on-line as well as companies that actually book these types of trips.
http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publica...ture.shtml
E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.
You may have contacted the wrong folks during your search, there are no laws directly prohibiting private passenger travel aboard freight vessels, there may be companies that are prohibited by their insurance companies to allow paying passengers. Some of those companies’ insurers may require all persons aboard to be officers or “deck hands” (a little hint). Unlike airlines, Ship Captains receive their license by vessel weight and not by ship content type, after putting in the hours for mine - 65ton or less is or rather was the primary vessel weight for a basic Captains license several years back and they qualify for commercial passenger as well as Cargo/commercial contract.
If using such ships for travel is something you really want to do, I would recommend digging into the matter deeper as there are indeed many differing types of vessels that you can book passage on.
Though Hawaii may be a little more difficult to find with regard to transport to and from the mainland… there are plenty of differing ships to and from Hawaii to make such a venture possible. Some of the smaller barge service companies (vs. Matson) may be more inclined to offer such passage as well as research vessels and other vessels. You can find articles on this matter on-line as well as companies that actually book these types of trips.
http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publica...ture.shtml
E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.