Date: Oct 28, 2024
Topic

Award-winning Canada Place cruise terminal expected to see more than 1.32 million passengers and 327 ship visits in 2024—supporting businesses and jobs across the Lower Mainland and Canada


Vancouver, B.C.: The final cruise ship of the 2024 season, Norwegian Jewel, will depart from Canada Place tomorrow—marking the end of another successful year for Vancouver’s cruise industry.

The award-winning Canada Place terminal at the Port of Vancouver is expected to welcome 327 cruise ship visits and 1.32 million passengers between March 11 and October 29, 2024—breaking the previous record for passengers set last year by more than 80,000 (a 7% year-on-year increase).

“We want to thank everyone who helped 2024 be such a successful cruise season in Vancouver—to have back-to-back record years run so smoothly is a huge accomplishment and testament to the dedication of those involved,” said Shri Madiwal, Vice President of Operations and Supply Chain at the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, the federal agency that enables growing trade through the Port of Vancouver, including cruise, while protecting the environment.

“I want to thank our partners—including SSA Marine, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the Canadian and U.S. border agencies, the City of Vancouver, and cruise lines—for helping deliver another successful cruise season. Canada Place cruise operations play a vital role in Vancouver’s thriving tourism sector—injecting over a billion dollars into the local economy every year, and supporting businesses and jobs throughout the region.”

A new Economic Impact Study released by the port authority earlier this year found passengers, crew and cruise lines spend more than $1.1 billion locally each year, including passengers spending an average of $450 each on hotels, restaurants, shopping, tours and local attractions, and more. Cruise lines meanwhile spend as much as $660 million a year on local goods and services, as Canada Place is a homeport for the Alaska market where cruise ships get re-stocked, re-fueled and maintained between trips.

“Cruise Lines International Association and our member lines thank the port authority and all our partners and suppliers for delivering another successful cruise season,” said Donna Spalding, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Senior Advisor. “This year’s passenger counts reflect the strong demand for cruising and with more travelers choosing to sail from Vancouver, the economic benefit of cruise tourism is expanding further into the local community.”  

“The Port of Vancouver has been an incredible partner for many years, and we thank them for their continued support,” said David J. Herrera, President of Norwegian Cruise Line. “Norwegian Jewel’s Alaska voyages to and from Vancouver provided our guests a wonderful opportunity to plan pre- and post-cruise stays in this beautiful city, allowing them to truly immerse themselves in the destination and plan an extended vacation. We look forward to our future sailings to and from Vancouver throughout 2025 and 2026, helping support the local businesses while also providing our guests with an unforgettable vacation experience to Alaska.”  

The busy 2024 cruise season saw Canada Place have six of its top-10 busiest days ever for passengers, including its second busiest ever on April 29 when almost 20,000 passengers passed through the terminal.

“As another record-breaking cruise season wraps up for the year, the contributions of our nearly 200 Destination Vancouver volunteers stand out as an example of how the city comes together to support the cruise industry,” said Royce Chwin, President and CEO of Destination Vancouver. “With more than 330,000 visitor interactions this season—14% more than last year and nearly double what we saw in 2022—among the largest groups of visitors we work with are cruise passengers. Our volunteers are on hand at Canada Place on every sailing day to offer local insights and encourage passengers to explore neighbourhoods, dining, and attractions, turning brief stopovers into richer experiences. This increased engagement directly benefits the local economy, making tourism an even stronger driver of positive growth for our city.”  

The port authority continues to collaborate with destination, government and cruise line partners to invest in the Canada Place terminal to enhance capacity, sustainability and passenger experience at the Port of Vancouver. This year, that included partnering with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to launch Canada’s first ever facial biometric scanning for cruise.

The new facial scanning technology has reduced the time it takes to pass through U.S. border control by up to 94%, with average transaction times dropping from 2-3 minutes with the passport kiosks previously used to about 10 seconds with the biometrics—significantly improving the terminal’s ability to seamlessly handle high numbers of cruise passengers and enhancing overall passenger experience.

“We are thrilled to continue our valuable work with industry and government enhancing capacity and passenger experience at the Canada Place cruise terminal, while further embedding sustainability into Vancouver’s booming cruise sector,” said Madiwal.

Environmental updates for Vancouver’s cruise sector in 2024 include:

  • Strong participation in ECHO’s voluntary slowdowns to protect at-risk whales in the Salish Sea, with a more than 90% participation rate by cruise lines
  • More than 80% of cruise calls to the port being shore power enabled (compared to 50% in 2019). Shore power technology has helped reduce port-related greenhouse gas emissions by more than 45,000 tonnes since 2009—the equivalent of taking about 10,700 gasoline-powered cars off the road for one year. 
  • Progress exploring the feasibility of creating a zero-emission green corridor for cruise between Washington, B.C. and Alaska—which is now focused on evaluating providing green methanol as a marine fuel in Vancouver and Seattle
  • Five cruise lines receiving port authority Blue Circle Awards recognizing their efforts advancing sustainability and environmental protections

In 2024 the award-winning Canada Place cruise terminal was nominated for the following awards: Seatrade Cruise’s ‘Port of the Year’, and the World Travel Awards’ ‘North America's Leading Cruise Port’ and ‘World's Leading Cruise Port’.

2024 cruise season background

  • The last cruise ship of the season, the Norwegian Jewel, is scheduled to depart Canada Place on October 29, 2024. It is scheduled to arrive at the west berth at 7 a.m. and depart at 5 p.m.
  • The first cruise ship to call at the Port of Vancouver for the 2024 season was the Disney Wonder on March 11  
  • Vancouver has been a homeport for Alaska cruises for more than 30 years, acting as the base for one-way and round-trip cruises and offering unparallel access to the pristine Inside Passage
  • As a homeport destination, each cruise ship visit to the Canada Place terminal injects an average $3 million into the local economy
  • Five vessels made their inaugural call to the Port of Vancouver in 2024: MSC’s Explora I; Silversea’s Silver Nova; Celebrity’s Celebrity Edge; Peace Boat's Pacific World; and Hapag Lloyd Cruise’s Hanseatic Spirit
  • The Canada Place cruise terminal welcomed the following cruise lines in 2024: Celebrity Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Cunard, Disney Cruise, Explora Journeys, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Holland America, Hurtigruten Expeditions (HX), Norwegian Cruise, NYK Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Peace Boat, Ponant, Princess, Regent Seven Seas, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn, Silversea Cruises, Victoria Cruises, Viking Ocean Cruises  
  • Shore power enables ships to shut down their diesel-powered auxiliary engines and plug into land-based electrical power, with demand steadily increasing since 2009, when the Port of Vancouver became the first port in Canada and the third in the world to introduce the technology for cruise.  

About the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and the Port of Vancouver

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is the federal agency responsible for the shared stewardship of the Port of Vancouver. Like all Canada Port Authorities, we are accountable to the federal minister of transport, and operate pursuant to the Canada Marine Act with a mandate to enable Canada’s trade through the Port of Vancouver, while protecting the environment and considering local communities. The port authority is structured as a non-share corporation, is financially self-sufficient and does not rely on tax dollars for operations. Our revenues come from port terminals and tenants who lease port lands, and from port users who pay various fees such as harbour dues. Profits are reinvested in port infrastructure. The port authority oversees the use of port land and water, which includes more than 16,000 hectares of water, over 1,500 hectares of land, and approximately 350 kilometres of shoreline. Located on the southwest coast of British Columbia in Canada, the Port of Vancouver extends from Roberts Bank and the Fraser River up to and including Burrard Inlet, bordering 16 municipalities and intersecting the traditional territories and treaty lands of more than 35 Coast Salish Indigenous groups. The Port of Vancouver is Canada’s largest port, and the fourth largest in North America by tonnes of cargo. Enabling the trade of approximately $300 billion in goods with up to 170 countries each year, port activities sustain 132,400 jobs, $9.3 billion in wages, and $16.3 billion in GDP across Canada.  

Media contact

Alex Munro
Media relations advisor
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