Following a boom in cruise ship construction, the ships are now looking for ports at which they can dock in order to begin voyages, most of which begin in the United States. With so many new ships, the companies are trying to establish connections with cities that are not ordinarily considered cruise ship docks. The companies pursue these alternatives because the traditional docking cities of New York, Seattle, Miami, Los Angeles, and Houston have become crowded with cruise ship traffic. The following issues have arisen:

 ● Without proper scheduling and departures, cruise ships often end up waiting in the harbor for three to eight hours; as a result, ports such as Tampa, a nontraditional cruise ship port, are experiencing traffic jams of ships waiting to dock.
 ● The presence of the large boats and the resulting number of tourists cause overwhelming flooding of the often-quaint alternative ports such as Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston residents worry that tourists from the cruise ships flooding their city will result in irreversible destruction of the town’s preserved landmarks and quaint looks.

 ● Rising water levels in ports such as New Orleans mean that the tall ships cannot clear power lines and have to be redirected to ports nearby that are not prepared, as when New Orleans had to redirect a 2,974-passenger cruise ship to Gulfport, Mississippi.
 ● The port facilities are not adequate to handle all of the boats, the passengers, and even the ships’ fueling needs.

Most cruise ship lines are incorporated outside of the United States, and they do not pay federal income taxes and are certainly not subject to state income taxes even though the most passengers come from the United States.25 Can the ships be taxed to cover the harbor expenses? Can they be required by states and cities to pay docking fees, or are they internationally exempt companies?