Hurricanes may blow business north

Hurricanes to the south are forcing the cruiseship business to reconsider its regular Caribbean voyages, and that may lead to more business for Nova Scotia ports and others in the Atlantic region.

Lane Farguson, who speaks on behalf of the Halifax Port Authority, says one ship, Anthem of the Seas, has already indicated it will be making an unscheduled stop in Halifax next week.

Although other cruise ship lines have not yet indicated they will bringing their vessels north, Farguson says it isn’t unusual for a ship to change scheduled stops.

“There was one ship that didn’t come in today,” he told me in an interview.

Holland America Line’s MS Rotterdam presumably decided to bypass Halifax Thursday due to the heavy rain which fell in the Halifax area.

Anthem of the Seas, the largest ship to call on the Port of Halifax, was already in port. Farguson pointed out that ship has the capacity to carry 4,200 guests.

Overall, this has been one of the best cruise ship seasons at the Port of Halifax, he said.

At the end of the season, 173 cruise vessels are expected to have called on Halifax, with about 274,000 passengers making it the busiest season by far.

And the number of ships and passengers could increase, if more decide to change direction and tie up in Halifax for a while.

“It is up to the captain of the ship to determine what is in the best interest of the passengers, the crew and the ship,” said Farguson.