Exhibit 31.1

302 CERTIFICATION

I, Ronald L.
OKelley, 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.;                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
| | 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;                           
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
| | 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;                                              
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
| | 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                                                                 
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
| | 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:
 November 14, 2008 |                          | 
|                         |                          | 
|                         | /s/ Ronald
 L. OKelley  | 
|                         |                          | 
|                         | Ronald L.
 OKelley      | 
|                         | Chief
 Executive Officer | 

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