Notes from the Rotary Meeting 12.30pm Thursday, August 17, 2023
President Jackie chaired the meeting which was held at the Port of Corner Brook dock area where the port hosts cruise ship passengers and crew. Rotarians and guests had a chance to view the market area, stage, selfie spots and gangway. It was a perfect day to eat pizza and enjoy being by the water’s edge.
There were several guests - Ellen Janzen, Eudevilla Dolomount, Sandra Patriquin, Katie Healey, Jeff Young, Sophie Buchholz, ADG Mel Dean and his wife Marg., all of whom Jackie welcomed.
Guest Speaker and host for the meeting was Jackie who talked about the following:
In 2023, there are 29 ships scheduled to call at the port, with four double ship days - two ships calling the port on the same day. This was not possible before floating docks and gangway were installed unless it was two smaller ships that could fit at the berth at the same time.
More ships visit during the summer months of July and August. There are 35 ships booked for 2024, with 10 ships booked in the summer and 3 double ship days in the fall. In 2025 we currently have 22 ships booked with 10 in the summer.
Direct economic impact from cruise line, passenger and crew spending was $4.2 million in 2022 from the 23 calls. In the years prior to Covid the direct economic impact was: 2017 - 1.9 million from 13 calls.
2018 - $2.6 Million from 15 calls and 2019 was $3.6 million for 18 calls.
The pandemic resulted in the cancellation of two seasons - 2020 had 21 bookings and 2022 had 19 bookings.
Passengers go on shore excursions to Gros Morne, the Bay of Islands, city tours, ziplining and ATV tours. Corner Brook is very much an outdoor destination as there are not a lot of indoor activities to offer cruise guests. One of the major issues in Atlantic Canada is the lack of coaches to take passengers on shore excursions. Some large ships would like to send 500 or 600 people to Gros Morne, but there are not enough coaches to get that many people there plus the park could not handle so many people in a single day for lunch or at the sites visited.
The port provides shuttles to take people to Corner Brook city square with many passengers walking back once they realize how close it is. The port also has part time staff who greet passengers, provide maps and directions, answer questions and give out free luggage tags. The city has volunteer ambassadors at the city square who provide information as well.
Jackie also spoke about the container service which calls at the port weekly to pick up paper and to drop empty containers. Rotarian Peggy Hanlon Brown is the Operations Manager for Logistec Stevedoring Inc. which runs the operations at the port. Peggy advised that they have around 30 stevedores and operators and 7 office and maintenance staff. The MSC container service is an international service so is not permitted to carry cargo from within Canada but to carry cargo between Canadian ports, a ship must be Canadian flagged and Canadian crewed, such as Oceanex which is a domestic service. The port usually has around 800 containers at any given time, of which approximately half would be empty and half full. Every week the ship drops empty containers which Logistec shunts to the mill where they are filled with paper and shunted back to be loaded on a vessel. Peggy also advised that fish exports from the port are increasing.
Jackie pointed out the Dalton Warrior tug which is berthed at the paper mill wharf. The tug is used to assist container ships to the berth as they are designed for ocean travel and have limited maneuverability with a single bow thruster. Cruise ships rarely use the tug as they have good maneuverability and would only require tug assistance in strong winds. In strong winds, cruise ships are more likely to cancel as high winds make it difficult to get off the berth with our prevailing wind direction pushing the vessel against the berth.
Everyone enjoyed Jackie’s talk which was both informative and interesting.