Exhibit 31.1

302 CERTIFICATION

I, Ronald L.
OKelley, President and Chief Executive Officer of US Shipping General Partner
LLC, the general partner of U.S. Shipping Partners L.P., certify that:

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| | 1. | I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of U.S. Shipping
  Partners L.P.;                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
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| | 2. | Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
  statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
  make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
  statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
  this report;                          
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| | 3. | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
  information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects
  the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
  registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;                                               
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| | 4. | The registrants other certifying officer and I are responsible for
  establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined
  in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over
  financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and
  15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
| |    | (a)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | Designed
  such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls
  and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material
  information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated
  subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities,
  particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
| |    | (b)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | Designed
  such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal
  control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to
  provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting
  and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in
  accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;       
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
| |    | (c)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | Evaluated
  the effectiveness of the registrants disclosure controls and procedures and
  presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the
  disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by
  this report based on such evaluation; and                                                                                             
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| |    | (d)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | Disclosed in
  this report any change in the registrants internal control over financial
  reporting that occurred during the registrants fourth fiscal quarter that
  has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
  registrants internal control over financial reporting; and                                                                       
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| | 5. | The registrants other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based
  on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting,
  to the registrants auditors and the audit committee of the registrants
  board of directors:                                                                                        
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| |    | (a)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | All
  significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation
  of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to
  adversely affect the registrants ability to record, process, summarize and
  report financial information; and                                                                                                       
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
| |    | (b)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | Any fraud,
  whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have
  a significant role in the registrants internal control over financial
  reporting.                                                                                                                                                                                                        

|                      |                                      | 
|--------------------- | ------------------------------------ | 
|Date: June
  22, 2009 |                                      | 
|                      |                                      | 
|                      | /s/ Ronald
  L. OKelley             | 
|                      |                                      | 
|                      | Ronald L.
  OKelley                 | 
|                      | President,
  Chief Executive Officer | 

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