WTRF - Ohio Senators Working to Get Delta Queen Back on Ohio River

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By Jake Kauffman

The Delta Queen steamboat once again could carry passengers on the Ohio River during overnight boat trips.

She was taken off the river because the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea treaty or SOLAS, prohibits wooden ships from carrying passengers on overnight trips due to fire dangers. Delta Queen received exemptions from the treaty, enshrined in law from 1970 to 2007. When Congress failed to pass another exemption in 2007, Delta Queen ceased her river runs at the end of the 2008 cruising season.

Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman recently introduced a bill to Congress changing safety regulations and granting the Queen a 15-year exception to SOLAS. They seek to allow an owner to not only revamp the ship but help to revive cities it stops in along the Ohio River.

"We understand the potential fire hazard, we think that's corrected so the Delta Queen will be a good tourist attraction up and down the river," said Brown. "One of the great things about living in Southern Ohio is getting to ride, getting to watch the Delta Queen for generations."

The Delta Queen was docked in Chattanooga, Tennessee as a floating hotel the past few years. Right now, Delta Queen rests at a private slip in Louisiana, undergoing a planned $5 million restoration. The Delta Queen went into service back in 1927 and was even used in World War II.

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