Ferry owners offering service to Canadian seaports fear new insurance coverage required by Ottawa will jeopardize their businesses.
Canada’s Marine Liability Act, passed last August, limits individual lawsuits against a water-borne service to $350,000 per passenger.
But ferry and other passenger-vessel operators fear the law is the first step in requiring them to carry $350,000 insurance per passenger as early as spring 2003.
“It has the potential for huge ramifications, not just for us but for every other ferry operator, including the (Victoria) Clipper and Washington State Ferries,” said Jack Harmon of Port Angeles, president of Victoria Rapid Transit, which operates a summertime passenger ferry between Port Angeles and Victoria.
The worry over rising insurance premiums comes as U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service officials are considering a $3 per passenger border crossing fee.
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