Feds Visit USVI, Pledge Charter Action
Federal Small Business Administration officials toured the U.S. Virgin Islands in February, meeting local entrepreneurs and promising action over the British Virgin Islands’ 2025 charter-boat fee increases. SBA Atlantic Region Administrator Matt Coleman stressed interagency efforts to defend the territory’s charter industry while also touting recent lending gains attributed to SBA policy changes.
Federal Small Business Administration officials visited the U.S. Virgin Islands in February, meeting owners across St. John to hear frontline complaints about shipping costs, customs uncertainty and recent regulatory changes that affect local firms. Matt Coleman, administrator of the SBA’s Atlantic Region, toured businesses from a food truck to the Port Hamilton oil refinery and stopped at longtime St.
Coleman, a Trump administration appointee, said the federal government is working with multiple agencies to respond to the British Virgin Islands’ 2025 Commercial Recreational Vessel Licensing Act and the sharp fee increases it imposes on charter vessels. Coleman told local business owners the Departments of State, Commerce and Homeland Security, the Office of the U.S.
Trade Representative, the SBA and local maritime advocates are coordinating to protect the USVI charter industry. In an SBA statement he also said Congress has been alerted to “economic inequities” caused by the BVI amendments. The charter and related industries employ roughly 25 percent of private workers in the territory, Coleman said.
At Gold Coast Yachts, president and cofounder Richard Difede described the business challenges created by new Customs rules that, he said, make tax due on nearly everything shipped into the territory and complicate long lead-time orders for custom yachts. “The uncertainty right now is massive, and that's not good for the economy,” Difede said, stressing the need for predictable pricing from suppliers.
Coleman highlighted what he described as significant lending gains under the SBA, saying local lending rose from $9.8 million in 2024 to $20.6 million in 2025. Those figures and other claims about staffing and underwriting changes were made in the SBA’s press release about the visit.
Local Small Business Development Center officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The SBA visit also included a meeting with Port Hamilton refinery officials; an earlier version of the SBA release erroneously said the refinery had secured new federal contracts, which refinery officials say is not the case.
Coleman praised policies he attributed to the Trump administration—tax cuts, deregulation and a “Made in the USA” focus—and singled out local businesses such as Mutiny Distillery for using breadfruit in spirits production. Difede acknowledged benefits from past federal programs like PPP but warned that eliminating environmental and health regulations could harm local communities.
The Virgin Islands Small Business Development Center continues to offer workshops for entrepreneurs on SBA loans, disaster preparedness, cash flow and business planning as local firms navigate changing trade, customs and regional regulatory landscapes.
Primary source: St Thomas Source