A modern-day Viking ship that sailed all the best way from Norway to attend a Great Lakes tall ship pageant might not even make be pressured to show again over a difficulty relating to pilotage charges.

The Norwegian Viking Ship, Draken Harald Hårfagr, has already sailed throughout the North Atlantic with stops in Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland, and is presently in Lake Erie after having handed by means of the the St Lawrence Seaway. It is headed to the Tall Ships Challenge Great Lakes 2016 race sequence, a tall ship race by means of all 5 Great Lakes with port appearances in cities all through the United States and Canada.

The non-profit behind the Draken nonetheless, Draken Expedition America, says that the Viking ship just lately entered the Great Lakes with info from the Great Lakes Pilotage Authorities that the ship wouldn’t be required to acquire pilotage based mostly on a rule stating, partly, that “…Foreign ships of less than 35 meters in overall length are not subject to compulsory pilotage in the Great Lakes Region”.

SEE ALSO: Ship Photos – Real Viking Ship Completes North Atlantic Crossing

Unfortunately, the group later discovered when coming into the St Lawrence Seaway that the ship truly is required a pilot always whereas at sea, with no risk of a reduction on charges. If the ship had been to take part within the Tall Ships Challenge Great Lakes as scheduled, the associated fee for the pilotage could be nicely over $400,000 – a price so excessive that it’s merely not doable for a non-profit like Draken Expedition America, the group says.

“We are required a pilot as soon as we leave the dock with the cost of 400 USD per hour, the rate as a commercial freight ship,” says Captain Björn Ahlander. “It is very disappointing, the people in the harbors around the lakes are expecting us and we have been warmly welcomed in every port we have visited, it is a pity if we can not pursue this expedition.”

Despite the setback, the group has determined to attend this weekend’s Tall Ships Celebration in Bay City, Michigan, regardless of the hefty charges related to it.

“There is not room in our budget to go further west into the Great Lakes, but we can not let the people in Bay City down,” added Captain Ahlander. “The Tall Ships Celebration in Bay City is just days away and the planning is in its final stages, it would be great disappointment for us and more importantly to the people we already committed to.”

But quickly after this weekend’s pageant, the Draken might be pressured to go away the Great Lakes as quickly as doable except it may well elevate sufficient cash to fund the remainder of the journey.

“It is very unfortunate if Draken Harald Hårfagre is not able to continue the expedition to sail the waters where there is a such high interest, and presence of the cultural heritage from the Nordic countries. At present, the only solution for Draken Harald Hårfagre to stay in the Great Lakes is if the project somehow gets the cost for pilotage covered,” the group mentioned.

As gCaptain reported a number of weeks in the past after the ship accomplished its transatlantic voyage, Draken Harald Hårfagre is definitely not a reproduction, quite it’s a real-life Viking ship constructed based mostly historical Norwegian boat constructing strategies dug up from the historical past books and archaeological findings. Construction was accomplished in 2014 and it’s now heralded because the world’s largest Viking ship ever in-built fashionable instances.

Outside the Great Lakes, the Draken’s schedule nonetheless features a cease in New York City and eventually Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut in October.

The information of Draken plight comes because the U.S. Coast Guard, who units Great Lakes pilotage charges, is being sued by a coalition of foreign-flag transport firms and commerce organizations in Canada and United States over a drastic improve in pilotage charges on the Great Lakes.