JBNA: The cruise season begins

Two Bits Worth

By Marg Gardiner, President, JBNA

On May 21, the Alaska-bound season will be in full swing. The Cruise lines will have completed their repositioning.

James Bay residents welcome tourists, but do not look forward to a 16% increase in cruise-related tour bus activity, and the possibility of unhealthy sulphur dioxide (SO₂) emissions.

The increase from 204 ships in 2014 to 229 ships in 2015 includes 25 more evening ship-calls. Evening ships berth for shorter periods, with one ship routinely berthing for only 4.5 hours.

Average passenger time ashore falls slightly this year. For ships arriving before 6 pm, there will be an increase of about 12 minutes, time to perhaps order coffee or gelato. But more ships will see an average decrease of over 7 minutes, resulting in an overall average decrease of 2%.

Although passengers are in port for an average of 6.8 hours, with 61% in port for 6 hours or less, the average time ashore is considerably less. Not all passengers come ashore, and for those who do, it takes between 15 minutes and a couple of hours to disembark. Passengers return to the ship an hour before departure or earlier.

While on the ship, passengers are “sold” bus-tour packages. Passengers who have not bought tours are directed to “shuttle” buses. As a result, 57% of those disembarking are loaded onto large buses, many of which are noisy, spewing, 1984-vintage buses brought into Victoria only a couple years ago. Buses pass by Dallas Road homes 130 times on a typical 3-ship evening.

Only a few buses built since 2000 have been introduced; none are ‘electric’ buses. There is NO commitment to phase out the old fleet. This is to the City’s shame. Traffic noise studies found levels above those recommended for healthy living by WHO Community Noise Guidelines and nearby homes receive diesel emissions at levels unacceptable in progressive urban centres.

JBNA has encouraged GVHA (Greater Victoria Harbour Authority) and the industry to promote walking as the friendly way to visit our community and downtown. Promotion must be done at the Seattle cruise-ship terminal, before the passengers board ships and buy shore excursion packages. The second opportunity to encourage walking is at Ogden Point, before the attractions group and shuttle bus operators direct passengers towards buses.

The industry understands dollars, as does GVHA. In addition to millions of dollars in port revenues, GVHA receives hundreds of thousands of dollars from bus operations. Through its pricing and access systems, GVHA could drive modernization of local tourism transportation by insisting on the use of modern low-noise low-emissions buses. But GVHA chose to focus on easy revenue rather than lead.

GVHA must commit to reducing social and environmental costs on our community and the City. It should alter its policies to ensure only urban-friendly transportation accesses Ogden Point, and its pricing policies to discourage bus use and encourage walking. 

Nearby residents, especially those with pulmonary problems, are bracing for another season that may bring 5 months of unhealthy sulphur dioxide (SO₂) emissions. Regulations effective January 1, 2015, reduce the maximum permitted sulphur content of fuel to 0.1% from 1%. Alternatives, like the use of scrubbers, are permitted. Exemptions for up to 3 years are granted which allow the continued use of higher sulphur fuel until the alternative becomes operational.

May 9, 2014, saw the highest recorded level of  SO₂ in James Bay since 2010. July 12 saw the highest recorded level of SO₂ observed at the Topaz monitoring site since 2009. 

The base value of Victoria as a port-of-call to the cruise-industry is US$150 million each year reflecting fines the industry would need to pay the US government if the Alaska runs did not stop in Canada. 

With the addition of millions for the industry’s cut of shore-excursion sales, Victoria is a valuable port for this multi-billion dollar industry which does not pay Canadian taxes but which Canadian taxpayers subsidize through infrastructure support and socio-environmental costs.

The cruise-industry could be a good fit for Victoria. For that to occur, local tourism enterprises, including GVHA, must accept responsibility for the adverse transportation impacts generated by their programs and move forward with clean, sustainable tourism practices.

 “It is possible to be a welcoming and sustaining cruise port where the local residents are not displaced by throngs of tourists and other problems, but only if the local decision-makers are held accountable and made to protect the essential features that make each local community valuable.” (Harboring Tourism - Cruise Ships in Historic Port Communities, World Monuments Fund 2015, p.75)

Good tourism interacts with community; bad tourism impacts on community.