Exhibit 31.1

302 CERTIFICATION

I, Ronald L.
OKelley, President & 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:
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | 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                                                                                               
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | d) | Disclosed in this report any change in the registrants internal
  control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrants most
  recent 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:                                                                                        
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | 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: August
11, 2008

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

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