Prince Rupert, a northern British Columbia municipality, is seeking an international partner in order to grow its cruise port. This is as the Alaska market continues expanding.
Global Ports Holding, a U.K.-based company, announced last week that it had signed an agreement for ten years with the Prince Rupert Port Authority in order to manage cruise services.
Colin Murphy, head of business development, says that they are working to expand Prince Rupert’s tourism industry.
“Because the volume has been low, it’s been hard for local tour operators and stakeholders to invest in guest experiences or tourism. This is one of the problems they face. Murphy stated Monday that Prince Rupert’s success is our main focus.
Global Ports Holding is not required to make any infrastructure investments upfront, but he declined to discuss financial terms.
Prince Rupert welcomed approximately 41,000 cruise passengers in this year’s year. This number is expected to increase by at least a third next year. Murphy claims that the port’s one-berth has received calls from Princess and Carnival, two of the largest cruise companies in the world.
Murphy said that he doesn’t think Prince Rupert will grow to be as big as the Alaskan cruise ports that receive more than a million passengers annually. At least not for a while. He says Prince Rupert can take advantage of the increasing congestion at existing ports in Alaska and further south.
He stated that cruise lines will be more focused in the long-term on finding berths for ships. Therefore, having a port so close to Prince Rupert’s Alaska market is crucial.
Murphy stated that he expected Prince Rupert to be a primary transit port and not a place where passengers would start or end their cruises. He says that there is some interest from smaller cruise companies to make Prince Rupert a turning point.
Global Ports Holding was among two companies that submitted to take over the management of Ketchikan’s port. This bid was considered a public/private partnership. The bid was rejected by Ketchikan’s City Council who voted 4-3 to keep the port under city control. Prince Rupert is the first U.K. investment in Alaska.
