Cruising into recovery

Federal government outlines requirements for visiting ships

Cruise ships can again stop at Halifax, starting next month.

Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra visited the port March 7 to announce the public health requirements for visiting passengers and crew, who must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and selfmonitor for symptoms.

Passengers are required to take a molecular test within 72 hours before boarding a cruise ship, or an antigen test within a day of boarding a cruise ship.

They also have to take a molecular test within 72 hours before arriving in Canada, or an antigen test within one day of their scheduled arrival.

Alghabra said the pandemic affected all sectors of the Canadian economy but tourism in particular.

“Travel, tourism, quality of transportation infrastructure and efficiency of our trade corridors, all of these are crucial elements of our economy and our success,” said the minister. “This framework, developed with federal, provincial and local public health agencies, the U.S. government and the cruise industry, includes a number of health measures. We are also adjusting our travel advice for Canadians taking cruises, and continue to advise travellers to proceed with caution.”

Alghabra said cruise industry protocols will have to be “robust” and that a ship-toshore checklist will have to be used when passengers come on board or go ashore.

“No passenger is going to get off the boat unless they meet the requirement,” he said. “It will be the cruise ship, but also (the Canada Border Services Agency), just like we do at airports. ArriveCan will still apply; passengers who are on cruise ships will still have to use ArriveCan, upload their information, vaccine certificates, etc. So, it will be the operators themselves but also CBSA that ensure the rules are upheld.

“The cruise ship industry represents more than $4 billion annually for our country’s economy. It supports approximately 30,000 jobs,” the minister said. “I also would like to say that we are working on and coming to finalization with the industry to implement new measures for the 2022 cruise ship season that will address pollution, such as waste-water management.”

In the last full year of cruising before the pandemic, 323,709 cruise ship passengers visited Halifax.

The minister also announced $7 million in federal spending to help build a marine container examination facility at the Port of Halifax, in addition to $8 million to be spent by the port.

“This new facility will significantly reduce inspection turnaround times, reduce port congestion and improve the efficiency and operations of the Canada Border Services Agency,” he said. “This means less noise, it means cleaner air, it means a healthier environment for all.”

Halifax MP Andy Fillmore said ports are a key component of national economic recovery, and the two-year suspension of cruise ships has been a blow to local shops and waterfront merchants in Halifax.

He said the new facility will replace an existing one offsite.

“This is going to reduce inspection and turnaround times, reduce port congestion, speed up operations and help to get a lot of trucks off downtown streets,” Fillmore said. “The quality of our transportation infrastructure and the efficiency of our trade corridors are crucial to Halifax’s economic growth.”

The $7-million allocation announced March 7 will come from the National Trade Corridor Fund, established in 2017.