American Cruise Lines' new CEO, Charles B. Robertson, is moving full steam ahead on his late father's vision of dominating the domestic cruise market.
The company this month announced it has signed a 20-year lease with the city of Vicksburg, Miss., to develop a dock for its growing river fleet, becoming the first company to ink a formal agreement with the city.
The company also recently hired Frank Klipsch, the former mayor of Davenport, Iowa, as its director of city partnerships and special projects on the Mississippi. Klipsch is former co-chair of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, a partnership of more than 100 mayors from cities and towns from Minnesota to Louisiana along the Mississippi River.
The cruise line has also made it clear that it has no plans to slow its shipbuilding streak. In its latest announcement last week, the company said it would add one of its new, modern ships to the Snake and Columbia rivers next year, bringing to four the number of vessels it operates in the Pacific Northwest.
"Our fleet has grown substantially in recent years, and with more ships under construction, we are not slowing down anytime soon," said Robertson, who took over as president and CEO of the company following the death of his father, Charles A. Robertson, earlier this month.
"The modern riverboats have been received wonderfully," he said, "and we look forward to continued expansion on both the Columbia and the Mississippi river systems."
The company did not release terms of the docking agreement, but the Vicksburg Post reported that American Cruise Lines will spend at least $200,000 on sidewalks, park benches, landscaping and other improvements in return for preferred docking rights. The cruise line will also continue to pay a per-passenger docking fee, which the newspaper said is $2.
While American Cruise Lines has been visiting Vicksburg for years, the lease marks the first formal agreement with a river cruise line to help develop the waterfront, according to the newspaper.
"In the history of this city, this is the first game-changer along the Mississippi River," mayor George Flaggs Jr. told the newspaper. "This is the first private, no-cost-to-the-taxpayers development along the Mississippi River."
According to the newspaper, Viking Cruises has also expressed an interest in space on the waterfront. Viking has for years been eyeing the U.S. market but has yet to announce any plan for developing a domestic fleet.
American Cruise Lines, meanwhile, has doubled its capacity on the Mississippi, with four ships cruising on it this year and more ships coming in 2021 and beyond.
The American Queen Steamboat Co. also sails the Mississippi. It will launch its third ship on the river in April. It also sails one riverboat on the Snake and Columbia rivers.
In addition to river cruises, American Cruise Lines operates coastal and inland waterways cruises in New England, Alaska and the Southeast.