MAINE MONITOR • June 1, 2024
Businesses in Eastport, the easternmost city in the United States, struggle with sparse population, available labor and a short tourist season. So when cruise ship travel began picking up, the city’s Port Authority scrambled to take advantage of the thousands of passengers who could disembark to spend money in the seaside community. Then COVID hit. Eastport is finally beginning to recover from that economic drought and was looking forward to cruise ships again arriving in even greater numbers. But a new wrinkle has emerged. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says that due to staffing shortages, there is a question whether it could handle screening four vessels due from Canada between mid-September and mid-October. That has left local officials frustrated.