International Marine Passenger Terminal

The Port of Toronto's International Marine Passenger Terminal is a cruise ship passenger terminal located at 8 Unwin Avenue in Toronto's old Portlands.[1]

Toronto's International Marine Passenger Terminal is located on the east side of the Eastern gap, five kilometers from the city center.

The terminal is a two-storey building which has 38,000 square feet (3,500 m2) of floor space and can deploy an adjustable passenger ramp from the second storey. The terminal facility is reported to have cost either CA$8 million or CA$10.4 million to construct.[2][3]

The terminal building is also regularly used as a film location. For its three years in production the CBC drama The Border used the customs facilities of the terminal as the headquarters of an elite customs and border squad.[4] Renting the terminal for filming costs $3,500 per day.[5]

Toronto-Rochester Ferry

The terminal was originally built to accommodate The Spirit of Ontario I a water-jet powered big catamaran fast ferry that was to make several round trips per day between Toronto, Ontario and Rochester, New York but the ferry service only ran for six months.[4] The Rochester firm that owned and operated the ferry had a 14-year lease on the use of the terminal that would have paid the City of Toronto $250,000 per year.[6][4] The lease was terminated in December 2009 after payment of a $90,000 settlement.

Emergence as Cruise Ship Passenger Terminal

Since the demise of the fast ferry service PortsToronto has been promoting Toronto as a cruise ship destination.

Cruise ships that serve American and European tourists travelling on the Great Lakes between May and October are making increasing use of the terminal as a port of call over the summer months. Indeed cruise passenger volumes at a variety of Great Lakes ports, which cumulatively had 100,000 passengers in 2018, increased between 2015 and 2019 reflecting increased touring on the Great Lakes.[7]

Cruise ships that have made multiple ports of call over the last few years include the 420 passenger MS Hamburg, the 180 passenger MV Le Champlain and the 210 passenger MV Victory I. On October 14, 2019 the terminal processed a record 988 people when the Hamburg, the Le Champlain and their passengers and crew docked on the same day.[8]

Annual Passenger Traffic[9]
YearVessel CallsTotal PassengersYear Over Year Growth Rate
20124690-
201392,900320%
201463,0003.3%
2015135,00066%
201672,400-52%
2017165,600133%
2018176,0007.1%
20193612,000100%

Port of Toronto in Great Lakes and Canadian Cruise Ship Industry

Toronto is the largest Canadian Great Lakes passenger port but Great Lakes cruise travel is quite small in comparison to both the Atlantic and Pacific cruise industry.

Busiest Canadian Cruise Ports (2019)
PortVessel CallsTotal PassengersAverage PAX Per ShipCruise Region
Vancouver2881,091,9003,791Pacific
Victoria257709,0422,759Pacific
Halifax179324,8281,815Atlantic
Quebec City150236,7151,578Atlantic
Saint John, NB79193,7152,452Atlantic
Sydney, NS100153,7971,538Atlantic
Charlottetown87128,0001,471Atlantic
Montreal76113,0001,487Atlantic - Great Lakes
Saugenay5450,000926Atlantic
St. John's, NL3032,7661,092Atlantic
Sept-Iles-19,000-Atlantic
Toronto3612,000333Great Lakes

Toronto is the busiest Great Lakes port that published its cruise passenger numbers in 2019. Many Great Lakes cruises begin in Chicago or Milwaukee and end in Toronto with a few heading further east to Montreal and Ponant cruise lines sailing all the way between Chicago and Quebec City.

Busiest Great Lakes Cruise Ports (2019)
PortVessel CallsTotal PassengersAverage PAX Per Ship
Toronto3612,000333
Cleveland307,250240
Detroit---
Sault Ste. Marie205,000250
Chicago---
Milwaukee103,200320
Midland102,000200

References
  1. The facility was built in 2005 to accommodate The Spirit of Ontario I a water-jet powered big catamaran fast ferry that was to make several round trips per day between Toronto and Rochester, New York, United States. "Getting to The Port of Toronto's International Marine Passenger Terminal". Port of Toronto. 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-04-23. Retrieved 2011-12-29. The Port of Toronto's International Marine Passenger Terminal welcomes cruise ship passengers from around the world to Canada's largest city... it also serves as a popular filming location and rental location for special events.
  2. Debra Black (2006-01-12). "Ferry lived fast and died young". Toronto Star. p. E 01. Retrieved 2011-12-30. What happens to the terms of that lease and what Rochester owes the port authority must still be determined, said [Lisa Raitt]. The ferry is survived by the $8 million International Marine Passenger Terminal on Cherry Beach and a $35 million (U.S.) Rochester port redevelopment, which included a new terminal.
  3. Charles Wyatt (2005-08-18). "Port authority embarking on fresh start: Focus shifting to rebuilding ties, efficiency". Business Edge news magazine. Archived from the original on 2012-04-24. Retrieved 2012-04-24. The ferry is now owned by the City of Rochester and uses a $10.5-million international marine passenger terminal built by the Toronto Port Authority. The ferry is operating at 50-per-cent capacity, but usage is expected to increase.
  4. Emily Mathieu (2009-12-18). "Rochester ends fast ferry lease". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2012-04-23. Retrieved 2011-12-30. According to the Democrat & Chronicle, the ferry board agreed to pay the Toronto Port Authority a settlement of $90,000 (U.S.) to end the lease. The board also voted to dissolve the Rochester Ferry Co.
  5. "Filming: Rates valid until August 31, 2012". Toronto Port Authority. 2012. Archived from the original on April 23, 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  6. Debra Black (2006-05-06). "Beleaguered ferry heads off across the pond; Rochester unties Spirit of Ontario Sold for $29.8M to plug financial hole". Toronto Star. p. A 12. Retrieved 2011-12-30. The Toronto Port Authority's terminal that accommodated the ferry at Cherry Beach will be put to other use, said Lundy. Other cruise vessels on the Great Lakes use it. And the Toronto Port Authority is also looking at other possibilities for the terminal.
  7. Jane Stevenson (2019-06-02). "Explore the Great Lakes on a cruise ship". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2019-12-24. Cruise the Great Lakes’ inaugural half-season last year, which began in August, saw 17 ships — roughly 6,000 passengers — visit Toronto. This season, about 35 ships are expected to dock in the city between May and October.
  8. @PortsToronto (2019-10-14). "No, you're not seeing double. @Ponant_Cruises ' MV Le Champlain and the MS Hamburg are docked at the Port of Toronto today as part of their Great Lakes cruise itineraries. Our Cruise Ship Terminal will process a record 988 passengers today. Welcome to Toronto! #CruiseGreatLakes" (Tweet). Retrieved 2019-12-24 – via Twitter.
  9. "Reports and publications". Ports Toronto. Retrieved 2019-12-24.

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