“Friends of the Viking” www.vikingship.us Chicago Welcome Viking Ship Draken Harald Hårfagre After traveling to the Great Lakes from Norway, the crew found out last week they were required by law to have a pricey navigational pilot on board. Captain of world's largest Viking ship explains pilotage fees • Captain of world's lar...
In mid-July 2016 doubts were raised about the ship's ability to visit US destinations in the Great Lakes. The U.S. Coast Guard deemed it a commercial vessel, requiring a pilot per a 1960 law. The total cost of piloting was estimated at $400,000. Sons of Norway raised over $60,000 in order to help pay some of the $140,000 pilot fees. On 4th August 2016 the Draken Harald Hårfagre issued a press release declaring that Green Bay or Chicago had to be the ship's last stop in the Great Lakes, planning to make its next stop in New York in September.
Captain Bjőrn Ahlander wrote,“We have been informed that the pilot associations have been receiving threats and being harassed by angry individuals,” wrote the Draken Harald Hårfagre in an open letter signed by Captain Bjőrn Ahlander and 17 crew members, published on the expedition’s website. “I hope we can come together and take an approach to this that is with kindness, honesty, and integrity. We respect pilots and their profession. The safety of the Great Lakes, and well-being of all living near these beautiful bodies of water, rely on their tireless skills in navigating these huge ships through difficult waterways in all conditions.” The crew says they welcome the pilots on board the Draken, but also say they “prefer they not have to take valuable time out of their already overly busy schedules for our relatively tiny Viking ship.”
The pilotage fees, required by United States Coast Guard, will add up, explains the crew, because the journey across the Great Lakes will cover “several thousand nautical miles,” take “many months,” and because the ship must travel by sail much of the time. Sons of Norway, the Draken’s official fundraising partner, has raised more than $70,000 but it is “at the absolute skimming by the skin of our teeth,” says the crew, still about $100,000 short of the estimated cost to travel beyond Chicago, and well below the $430,000 estimated cost to complete the entire trip.
The US Coast Guard and the pilot companies are continuing to claim pilotage fees and confusion that they were misinformed prior to setting sail from Norway April 26th as the reason Draken Harald Hårfagre has to skip Duluth. The US pilotage regulations base their requirements on whether a foreign flag vessel is conducting commercial activity on the Great Lakes, such as collecting fees to attend events and providing tours for paying passengers, much like cruise ships. The Draken Harald Harfagre had to be certified as an oceangoing commercial cargo vessel with the Norwegian Maritime Authorities.