CRUISING FEES WRANGLE RAMPS UP BETWEEN BVI AND USVI

United States federal departments are reportedly poised to intervene in a heated dispute between the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) and the British Virgin Islands (BVI) over use of the Sir Francis Drake Channel. The popular waterway, which lies within the territorial boundaries of the BVI, is a popular cruising zone for yachts and commercial tourist pleasure boats operating out of both territories.

There was outrage from the USVI when the BVI authorities first announced that they were hiking the charter and other fees on vessels not registered in the territory to use the waterway.

In 2025, the BVI government dramatically increased the fees from US$800 to US$24,000 per vessel for annual multi-night charter licences. Day trip fees rose from US$200 to US$8,500, with additional customs and other related fees incurring an additional cost of $US1,000 or more.

BVI Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley had defended his administration’s decision to hike the fees, saying: “The government of the (British)Virgin Islands has both the right and responsibility to steward its natural resources in a manner that secures its territory’s long-term economic future,” he affirmed during a sitting of the BVI House of Assembly.

It was also pointed out that the fees had remained unchanged for decades.

With the BVI government ‘firmly anchored’ in its position on the issue, the Governor of the USVI, Albert Bryan, has now escalated the matter beyond the local shores and the earlier steps he’d taken.

Previously, he had written to the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, complaining of what he described as “economic exclusion” by his neighbours. USVI charter operators claim that they have lost millions in revenue since the new fees were introduced.

Now, Governor Bryan has fired off another letter, this time seeking the direct intervention of the State Department, along with the US departments of Homeland Security, Commerce and the Interior.

“We are neighbours, and our preference is to resolve this cooperatively. But we also have a responsibility to protect the economic interests of the people and businesses of the U.S. Virgin Islands,” USVI Governor Bryan said in a statement.

He is proposing an inter-Virgin Islands conference in Washington involving the relevant US federal departments in what is seen in some BVI circles as a high-powered move to ramp up the dispute. Despite the family and longstanding cultural ties between the BVI and the USVI, this issue now falls within the scope of an international spat as the two territories are separately tied to the United States and the United Kingdom.