As cruise ships get ever bigger, Port of 麻豆传媒映画is challenged to accomodate them at Canada Place and is now looking to other locations, such as Richmond and Delta鈥檚 Roberts Bank. The Royal Caribbean鈥檚 Symphony of the Seas, above, will become the biggest cruise ship on the seas when it launches next April. File photo
A cruise ship terminal could be built on the banks of the Fraser River in Delta.
Still saying it鈥檚 early in the process and no decision has been made to even proceed with a second Lower Mainland cruise ship terminal, the Port of 麻豆传媒映画has been looking at the feasibility of a new facility in Delta or Richmond.
The port has conducted a preliminary study on potential sites.
Port president and CEO Robin Silvester told the Optimist building a man-made island, as will be the case for the proposed Terminal 2 container facility at Roberts Bank, would be an enormous undertaking, so a cruise ship terminal on existing land along the Fraser could be a good option.
He said the port will have more to say on the idea of a new cruise ship terminal early next year.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a long process and there鈥檚 no easy answer. It would be a long-term project, not a short-term project, and there鈥檚 a lot of work going on. We鈥檙e still in the pretty early stages, but we are looking at the feasibility of a site on the Fraser River,鈥� said Silvester.
鈥淲e are looking at all the options but if we wanted to something in the medium-term, it would need to be an option based on where we have land available. So, we鈥檙e looking at the medium-term while still doing conceptual work on the very long-term as well.鈥�
Silvester told the Delta Chamber of Commerce last fall the cruise ship industry has been on a stable growth trend, one which has resulted in the port investing millions to improve the Canada Place terminal in Downtown Vancouver. However, it鈥檚 going to get harder to accommodate the new, much bigger cruise ships.
Last year, for example, the Port of 麻豆传媒映画welcomed the Norwegian Bliss, a cruise ship that accommodates more than 4,000 passengers and is the largest cruise ship ever to visit Vancouver.
According to the port, 麻豆传媒映画welcomed more than 900,000 cruise passengers on 243 ship visits in 2018, a seven per cent increase in passenger volume over the previous year.
Cruise is a key economic driver for the region as each cruise ship adds about $3 million to the local economy, the port says.
The port last week released its mid-year stats which indicate cruise passenger traffic is up 15.1 per cent for the first half of 2019.
