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 quarterly report on Form 10-Q 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:
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| |    | (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;
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| |    | (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                                                                                                      
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| |    | (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: August
12, 2009

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| | --------------------------------------
| | /s/ Ronald
 L. OKelley               
| |                                       
| | Ronald L. OKelley                    
| | President and Chief
 Executive Officer

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