Delta Queen gets congressional OK

The owners of the 1926 historic paddlewheeler Delta Queen have gotten the thumbs-up approval from Congress to get the steamboat back on tract. The steamboat, currently moored at Houma, La., could be in service in 2020 that would add another vessel to the nation’s inland river overnight cruise market. “I’m absolutely thrilled,” Cornel Martin said Delta Queen Steamboat Co.’s CEO after the provision passed as part of the Coast Guard’s authorization bill. The long-sought after provision exempts old vessels from operating on inland under current fire hazard restrictions, if owners make annual alterations up to 10 percent of areas not constructed of fire-retardant materials. The 176-passenger vessel has a wood and steel superstructure and was kept alive with a series of exemptions before it stopped sailing in 2008 when Majestic America Line shut down. Next on the agenda is to raise up to $12M needed to renovate the vessel. DQSC has been talking to potential benefactors for several years, and there are “several tracks we’ve been pursuing,” said Martin, including legislation for obtaining commercial financing. The vessel is to be homeported at Kimmswick, Mo., a small town about 25 miles south of St. Louis. (Source: Work Boat 11/29/18) The Delta Queen had been used for cruising major rivers that constitute the tributaries of the Mississippi River. She was docked in Chattanooga, Tenn., and served as a floating hotel until she was bought by DQSC. She was towed to Houma in March 2015 to be refurbished to original condition.