Tourism $8.7-million facility will be open for passengers in August; cruise ship lines 'ecstatic'
These steel pillars will support the cruise ship terminal. Portions of the building could be made available to the community.
Jeff Ducharme
Telegraph-Journal
Appeared on page C5
SAINT JOHN - The new cruise ship terminal building is taking shape on the former home of the Pugsley sheds that once dominated the wharf.
Crews are driving steel pillars into the ground that will support the structure of the $8.7-million cruise ship terminal. The project will pick up speed over the next two weeks, said port spokesman Bill Eaton.
"Back in 1989, we had one cruise ship come in and this year we're expect 82," Eaton said. The success, said Eaton, is a reflection of what the city has done to support the cruise industry and welcome those passengers to the city.
With a main floor of 15,770 square feet, the structure will begin to look like a building by June and be open for passengers in August. The second-floor mezzanine will be approximately half the size of the main floor.
"They're ecstatic," Eaton said of the cruise ship lines' response to the new terminal. "When you put the infrastructure in and you can take better care of their passengers, they're happier." Passengers used to be welcomed into large white tents in an effort to shield them from the unpredictable Saint John weather.
Marco Maritimes Ltd. is contractor on the Water Street project.
Discussions are still continuing, but the Saint John Port Authority is hoping to make portions of the building available to the community when it is not being used to welcome cruise ship passengers. The port authority will also move its offices into the facility. Inside the terminal building, preliminary plans call for a Bay of Fundy and port interpretation centre. "There's some incredible pictures that we have access to and the public should be able to see," Eaton said.
