Port Colborne
Port Colborne
From Breaking to Berthing
Simon Bridgland
Port2Port - 2024
In a recent news article, Bill Steele the Mayor of Port Colborne announced the successful launch of a revitalization project decades in the making.1 Port Colborne, until recently the destination for ships at the end of their service life where they were then recycled, has been transformed into a port of call for cruise ships, and a tourism hub for Niagara and beyond. Figure 1 depicts one such cruise ship the Viking Octantis moored at the city's Snider Dock.2

Figure 1: The Viking Octantis moored at the city's Snider Dock across from West Street.
Following the economic downturns of the 1980s, Port Colborne found its relationship with the Welland Canal changing. Cargo ships that once jostled for dockage space along its wharves began to sail past the city on their way to larger ports throughout the Great Lakes. The national economic crisis caused a decline in manufacturing, and Port Colborne, which had been dependent upon the transportation of commodities along the canal, lost several major manufacturers like Inco, Algoma Steel, Canada Cement, and Robin Hood Mills.3 Over the past few decades, Port Colborne's marine prospects remained bleak, as if a reflection of the fate of those ships whose last port of call was the city on their way to be recycled by Marine Recycling Corporation.4 As Canada began to recover from the recession, local officials realized that Port Colborne's previous dependence upon the manufacturing sector was unsustainable, and the city would need to embrace tourism in order to grow its economy.5 Early suggestions which were ruled out due to cost, would have leveraged Port Colborne's existing waterfront by increasing the city's marina facilities and constructing a hotel, restaurant complex and a waterfront welcome centre. Ultimately, Port Colborne's economic future would be secured by leveraging its location on the Lake Erie shoreline to become a major recreational port at the southern terminus of the Welland Canal.
In 2018, a new Mayor was elected with a mandate to establish the city as a cruise ship port and regional tourism hub.6 Through partnerships with the Great Lakes Cruise Association, Lakeshore Excursions, and the St. Lawrence Seaway, a Community Improvement Plan was created that would establish a year round commercial port servicing Great Lakes cruise ships from late March to October, as well as providing dockage and maintenance facilities for cargo ships during the winter months.7 The $32 million plan would prepare the downtown core to support an influx of ships' passengers, and included upgrades to "water, sewer, stormwater, roads, sidewalks (and) streetscaping.8 Both the Federal and Provincial governments committed to contribute partial funding of the revitalization project through various funds.9
As of May 2023, Mayor Steele reported that six cruise lines were regularly berthing in the new and updated facilities: "On every call, several hundred passengers disembark the ship to participate in preplanned excursions or explore their surroundings."10 Through an additional partnership with Niagara's South Coast Tourism Association, cruise ship passengers from Viking Expeditions, American Queen Voyages, Vantage Travel, Pearl Seas Cruises, Ponant, and Plan tours Cruises are provided with expedition packages and shuttle services to take in the sights of Niagara Falls, the shopping in Niagara-On-The-Lake, tour the vineyards along the south coast of Lake Ontario, or to bask on the beaches of Lake Erie.11 Not all has been smooth sailing for the Port Colborne revitalization project. As reported by the Port Colborne Leader newspaper: "Due to the cost and unavailable grants, a waterfront welcome centre...the crown jewel of the city's waterfront cruise ship project, was pulled from the 2023 budget."12 Despite this, the city has embraced groups of unexpected visitors due to the presence of the cruise ships, namely nautical enthusiasts who travel to Port Colborne to watch cruise ships arrive and dock. Restaurants overlooking the canal find themselves overrun by 'gongoozlers', a modern update from old English, meaning a person who "enjoys watching boats and activities on canals."13 Over the past decade, Port Colborne had been able to reinvent itself from a forlorn destination where ships are broken down and sold for scrap, to a vibrant and thriving harbour where cruise ships berth and tourism is booming.
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Sarah Ferguson, "Cruise Ships Bring Growth to Port Colborne." Niagara This Week, May 19, 2023. Accessed September 21, 2023 ↩
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Nicholas Tibollo, "First cruise ship of season stops in Port Colborne." The Niagara Independent, May 3, 2022. Accessed October 2, 2023. ↩
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Renato Salerno, "The Transformation of a Small Urban Centre a Case Study of Port Colborne, Ontario". National Library of Canada, 1990. Accessed September 21, 2023. ↩
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"Our Team" Marine Recycling Corporation. Accessed September 21, 2023. ↩
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Renato Salerno, 1990. ↩
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"Port Colborne, Ontario - Celebrating Marine Heritage." Business View Magazine, November 22, 2019. Accessed September 21, 2023. ↩
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"Port Colborne's Cruise Ship Initiative Draws Public Interest Port Colborne, ON", April 11, 2022, City of Port Colborne. Accessed September 21, 2023; and Business View Magazine, 2019. ↩
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Ibid. ↩
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"Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario".Government of Canada, Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, June 15, 2022. Accessed September 21, 2023. ↩
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Sarah Ferguson, 2023. ↩
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Ibid. ↩
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Ibid. ↩
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"Gongoozler" Cambridge Dictionary. Accessed October 1, 2023. ↩