Linblad’s new ship a boon for American workers

The cruise industry may have some explaining to do if president-elect Donald Trump ever turns his attention towards it.

There’s an imbalance between the jobs created by many of the Miami-based cruise giants in the United States and the larger number created on the ships and in overseas shipyards for foreign workers. Across the economy, making that equation more balanced has been one of the cornerstones of Trump’s political popularity.

But there are at least a few positive examples to highlight, one of which is in Washington state, not Washington D.C.

At the shipyard of Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, north of Seattle, workers are putting the finishing touches on one of the few cruise ships to be built in the U.S. in recent years. The $48 million National Geographic Quest is on track to be delivered in June, the first newbuild ever for its operator, Lindblad Expeditions.

The 100-pasenger ship will be a big-time upgrade over its predecessor, the National Geographic Sea Bird, which is 35 years old.

Features include a partially covered sun deck with chairs, tables, and an outdoor grill, along with 22 balcony cabins. The ship is designed to go where big ships can’t. Its summer season will offer in-depth exploration of Alaska’s coastal bays, fjords and Glacier Bay, weaving wild Alaska in with access to its smaller towns, such as Sitka.

Tour operators such as AdventureSmith Explorations will be prime customers for the Lindblad vessel.

About 40 extra workers were hired at Nichols Brothers after the contract for the Quest as well as sister ship, to be delivered in 2018, was announced. But the network of designers, sub-contractors and vendors goes beyond that.

“It takes hundreds of U.S. workers, employed as highly-skilled shipyard workers, contracted specialists and marine equipment suppliers, to build a sophisticated passenger vessel like National Geographic Quest,” said Tyler Skarda, Lindblad’s Senior VP of Marine Operations.

The Quest is being built at a U.S. shipyard so that it can travel stop to stop in Alaska without visiting a foreign port and still be in compliance with the Jones Act., which requires ships that go solely between U.S. ports to be built in U.S. yards and staffed by American crew.

Another coastal line that also operates under the Jones Act, American Cruise Lines, has two new ships under construction at Chesapeake Shipbuilding, in Salisbury, Md., with one due in May next year.

To be sure, Lindblad’s 238-foot coastal cruiser isn’t going to have the same employment impact as an 1,100-foot mega-ship, the economic mainstay of the cruise industry.

But it does represent jobs for working-class Americans at a time when that issue is front and center on the political stage.