Port Metro Vancouver posted a modest increase in passengers during
2012 Vancouver-Alaska cruise season, as it welcomed about 4,000 more passengers
than it did last season.
Between May and October 2012, the port’s two cruise
terminals, at Canada Place and Ballantyne, welcomed 667,000 passengers on 28
different vessels with 191 cruise ship calls, according to port data.
The port also says that during the just-concluded cruise
season, 60 vessels connected to the port’s shore power facilities, reducing
greenhouse gas emissions by 2,266 tons, according to port data. The Canada
Place terminal was the first of its kind in the country to offer shoreside
power, where cruise ships can plug into the electrical grid and shut off their
engines while in port to eliminate air emissions.
For the upcoming 2013 cruise season, the port says it’s
anticipating an increase of more than 20 percent in cruise passengers in 2013,
with more than 820,000 passengers expected to pass through the two cruise
terminals.
Part of the reason for the projected increase is that Metro
Vancouver welcomes four new vessels that will be homeported in Vancouver in
2013: the Disney Wonder, the Norwegian Sun, Oceania’s
Regatta and the Amsterdam.
Vancouver’s cruise industry generates over $2 million in
economic activity for every cruise ship call, according to port data.
