B.C.’s cruise ship season ends in rough waters
Posted October 20, 2025 7:06 am.
The final vessel of B.C.’s $1 billion cruise ship season is set to dock on Tuesday. But unlike previous years, 2025 has not been record-breaking.
The port welcomed 301 ships and 1.2 million passengers beginning in early March, but there was an 11 per cent drop in passenger volume and an eight per cent decline in ship calls.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s vice-president of operations and supply chain, Shri Madiwal, tells 1130 NewsRadio says despite that, tourism numbers are slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels.
“Next year looks much more promising with 355 calls and 18 per cent increase in passenger numbers,” said Madiwal.
He explains that cruise lines spend up to $660 million each year on local goods and services, and passengers spend an average of $450 each on accommodation, eating out, shopping, and on tourist attractions.
“The geopolitical issues in the first half of the year… definitely played a part in people’s decision to travel.”
Madiwal offers a couple reasons why numbers decreased this season. One is that some cruise lines sidestepped calling Vancouver home and moved their vessels to other cities. Another is the ongoing tensions with the U.S.
“The geopolitical issues in the first half of the year, since January I would say, has definitely played a part in people’s decision to travel,” explains Madiwal.
He says a revenue drop from the cruise ship season does impact the province’s bottom line, at a time the government is swimming in red ink. “The cruise industry does bring in a lot of money. We see almost every cruise ship spending about $3 million, so that adds up to almost $1 billion in the local economy.”
Meanwhile, Madiwal says business is up at the Port of Vancouver and that’s helping fill any economic gap left by the cruise industry.
“Volumes across the commodities sectors are growing, and when you look at trade diversification, sea ports become much more important. And that’s where we’re focused on not only optimizing what we have and getting much more cargo out of our existing capacity, but also preparing for the future.”
He says future-proofing the port means expanding it — a project that’s underway.
“Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion — this is an expansion we are introducing for container capacity of 2.4 TEU’s (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) and that’s going to add capacity by over 50 per cent in the gateway and 30 per cent within… Canada. We’re building a full new island in the Roberts Bank area. It will be a three-berth container terminal facility and add significant capacity for both import and export cargos.”
Madiwal could not provide an exact number, but says the project will cost billions of dollars.
“We are anticipating construction to begin in early 2028. And then mid-2030s, the terminal should be in operation.”
He describes the port as the “gateway” as the federal government pushes hard to increase its options amid the trade war with the U.S.
“We handle about 160 million metric tonnes. And in the first six months we handled about 85 million tonnes. It’s an economic driver. It supports 115,000 jobs, $300 billion worth of goods, and also one-third of international trade goes through the Port of Vancouver.”
