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Comment by veemjeem | Hacker News Reader

Are there any companies whose core source of revenue is transporting people via boat? I'm not referring to cruises or other entertainment-based boats.

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Internationally, to and from the US? I doubt it. At a smaller scale you may find privately operated ferries, though I think those are usually operated by governments. There are companies like these guys: http://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferry/scandinavia/ but I don't think those sort of companies will do you much good if you are trying to get out of or into the US.

Edit: For non-cruise trans-Atlantic crossing by sea, the best I've been able to find on google is the Queen Mary 2. That seems to be generally considered an ocean liner rather than a cruise ship.

"The Italian Line's SS Michelangelo and SS Raffaello,[4] launched in 1962 and 1963, were two of the last ocean liners to be built primarily for liner service across the North Atlantic. Cunard's transatlantic liner, Queen Elizabeth 2, was also used as a cruise ship.[3] By the early 1970s, many passenger ships continued their service in cruising. By the first decade of the 21st century, only a few former ocean liners were still sailing, while others, like Queen Mary, were preserved as museums or floating hotels. After the retirement of the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2008, the only ocean liner in service was Queen Mary 2, used for both point-to-point line voyages and for cruising."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_liner#Decline_of_long-dis...

There are a few private ferry companies with international routes from the U.S... to Canada: https://cohoferry.com/

(Of course this is just trivia and should not distract from the real point, which is that air travel has no real competition for a great number of routes, and the US government is increasingly restricting other forms of travel anyways.)

My hometown example: http://www.bluewaterferry.com/

At the same time, isn't crossing the border firmly established as a "privilege"? In the good old days (ie a decade ago) you could just hop across the border pretty freely, but today you are required to have a passport or enhanced driver's license. Even fishing on the other side of the river (something my dad probably did at least four times a week when I was a kid) now has ludicrous reporting requirements, like calling customs via a landline to report you've crossed the border.

I was under the impression that the "privilege" in a border crossing was entering the destination country (and thus to be granted or not according to the destination country's will) rather than leaving the source country. This is what we dislike about the Berlin Wall and similar things, right?

I have a relative in Europe that has COPD and eventually won't be able to fly, even with oxygen. Something with the pressurization I've been told.

In any case, I've been researching trans-Atlantic passage and the QM2 seems to be the only way to get from the USA to Europe and back via water on a semi-regular schedule and not making a dozen party stops on the way.

I believe that some cargo ships have space for a very, very small number of paying passengers. I've read articles about this in the past, but have nothing to hand right now on how you can do this.

Not a core source of revenue, but possible for someone needing to travel without using planes.

You are traveling on a working ship, with a very small crew, and not a lot of provided entertainment,(or internet access), so be prepared to look after yourself during these passages

I looked into those sort of trips a while ago and was surprised by the large prices I saw quoted. I think the fact that you are basically paying for accommodations for several days keeps the price higher than you might expect.

And if you are going across the Pacific it might take a month.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Freighter_travel

According to that page, ships must hire a doctor if they have more than 12 passengers, so it's just not worth it for most of them to carry more.

Now that is a damn valuable link! I intend to look into this sort of thing a lot more for my future travels. Just being able to give the middle finger to luggage overages & have a bed to sleep on instead of an airport bench during a 6 hr layover from midnight till 6am might make all the difference. And I wont have to turn off my ebook reader when the ship starts moving!

Not for long distances, but there are still some "Ocean liner" type vessels out there. The Queen Mary II is almost both--fancy like a cruise ship but it does ocean passes and not cruises (where everyone boards and departs at a single location).

http://www.cunard.com/

A lot of people actually do use cruises as transportation when traveling, since on net it can actually be much cheaper than flying, staying in a hotel, and taking care of your own food. I doubt there are cruises you could use to travel somewhere for longer than a few days though, since docking fees make up a large portion of a cruise ship's operating cost.

do mean ferrys, or much longer distances? (days/weeks). if you mean ferrys, then in Europe -- and I assume other places -- it is really quite common to travel by boat to other countries. for example from England it is common to go by boat to France/Ireland/etc. I seem to remember p&o ferries was a big company doing that.

There is a "ferry" highway in Northwestern Washington, BC, and the Alaska pan handle. It is used quite commonly, especially for car/person transport.

Human smuggling and trafficking on boats is common enough, much easier than on planes.

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