Quebec City (Canada)

Port Quebec is one of Canada's all nine St Lawrence cruise ports of call - together with Montreal, Trois-Rivieres, Saguenay, Baie-Comeau, Sept-Îles, Gaspe, Havre-Saint-Pierre and Magdalen Islands. Quebec City is carved into the Cape Diamond cliff, at the confluence of two rivers (St Charles and Saint Lawrence) and is part of Canada's Quebec province. Despite two centuries of English rule, it remains fiercely French today. The city is surrounded by stone walls (the only American walled city north of Mexico) with massive ramparts dominated by the Citadel (fortress).

Among the best known tourist destinations are the Dufferin Terrace (promenade in Haute-Ville, overlooking St Lawrence River), Montmorency Falls (large waterfall on Montmorency River) and Ile d'Orleans (Island in St Lawrence River, approx 5 km / 3 mi east from downtown). Pupular buildings include Ursuline Convent (1641), Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church (1688), Notre-Dame-de-Quebec Church (1650), Anglican Cathedral (1793), National Battlefields Park (site of Battle of the Plains of Abraham aka Battle of Quebec in 1759 / during the Seven Years' War between France and England).

Quebec City cruise port

Season 2017 was the port's record year with handled a total of 201,000 cruise ship tourists (32% increase over 2016). Of all the 132 ship calls, 14 were turnarounds (roundtrips). The port also reported all 5 maiden visits from vessels of NCL-Norwegian, Silversea, Viking Ocean and Ponant.

In May 2017 was inaugurated the theme park Place des Canotiers (cost USD 39 million). The new facility is located at Pier 22 (beside the cruise terminal).

Port Quebec

Port Quebec (aka Port de Quebec/locode CAQUE) is an inland port in Quebec City, as well as Canada's oldest and the Province's second-largest (after Montreal). In the 19th century, it was among the world's busiest ports and played a major role in both city's and country's development. Port's statistics for 1863 show 1600+ vessels handled, with nearly 25,000 crew.

Today, the port is connected with 300+ seaports in 60 countries in Asia, Europe, South America, Australia. The value of cargo shipping through Port Quebec is estimated at USD 20+ billion (statistics 2012). Current statistics show that the port handles annually 1400+ vessels. As deepwater port, it allows ships with max draft 15 m (49 ft) at low tide and provides the shortest connection from Europe to North America's Great Lakes region - continent's industrial and agricultural core.

Port Quebec creates 13,250 Canadian jobs, of which 8000+ (direct and indirect) in Quebec City. In the period 2007-2017, the seaport reported growth of 80,5%. The Saint Lawrence-Great Lakes market is estimated to have 110+ million consumers. In this region is concentrated over 40% of USA's manufacturing industry.

The port has an intermodal terminal, through which annually are handled an average 27 million cargo tons. By "Beauport 2020" (port development project, in 2019 renamed to "Laurentia") is a planned wharf line extension of 610 m (2000 ft) with max draft 16 m (52 ft) at low tide. By the project will be also developed a land area (located behind the wharf) of around 17,5 hectares (175,000 m2) - the largest on St Lawrence River. The new terminal will be linked with the existing rail- and road networks.

In December 2017, Quebec Port Authority (QPA) announced its plan for building a new container terminal at the "Beauport 2020" site. The initiative was part of the port expansion project and the decision was based on multiple technical and commercial studies. The new terminal serves as international hub housing logistics, distribution centers and various businesses. On May 28, 2019,  QPA signed a long-term agreement for building and operation/management of the new container terminal Laurentia. The deal was signed with HPH (Hutchison Port Holdings) and CN (Canadien National).

• HPH (Hutchison Port Holdings Ltd) is a BVI-incorporated private company, subsidiary of the 2015-founded CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd - multinational headquartered in Hong Kong. Ranked among world’s largest, HPH's network in 2016 comprised 48 seaport operations in Asia, Australasia, Middle East, Africa, Europe, South and North America.
• CN (Canadian National Railway) is a 1918-founded, Montreal-headquartered and government-owned company. It is currently ranked Canada's largest freight railway (in terms of revenue and network size). It is also the country's only transcontinental railway company (Nova Scotia to British Columbia) and serving both Canada and Midwestern-Southern USA.
• HSBC Holdings plc (British multinational financial holding, in 2018 ranked world's 7th-largest bank) acted as QPA's financial advisor throughout the process.

The CAD 775 million (USD 575 million) Laurentia Terminal project will be financed primarily through joint investments (by QPA, HPH, CN) plus federal and provincial government financing. The new containership terminal will support hundreds of new local jobs. By this deal, HPH will build the cargo-handling facility, which will be North America's most technologically advanced cargo terminal.

Prior to the Coronavirus crisis, in 2019, the cruise port handled a total of 236,715 tourists (passengers and crew) via 148 ship calls, of which 22 were homeporting (roundtrips). Maiden calls were made by large liners (MSC Meraviglia, Mein Schiff 1, Zaandam) as well as by smaller-sized luxury ships (Fram, Scenic Eclipse, Le Champlain, Viking Sun, Oceania Riviera, Ocean Dream). Inaugural cruise brand visits included the companies MSC, TUI, Hurtigruten, Scenic, Peace Boat Japan (NGO/humanitarian aid organization).

On July 5, 2022, was inaugurated the new multipurpose cruise terminal at Berth 30 (aka Terminal 30).

In season 2022 (April thru November) Port Quebec handled a total of 96 cruise calls from 28 vessels (including 8 first-time/maiden visits) by 23 different companies/brands. The number of handled tourists was ~133000 (including 92000+ passengers and ~41000 crew).

In season 2023 (April 25th thru November 5th) the cruise port had booked 131 berthings for 41 different ships (28 brand lines/companies), including 32 homeporting operations/turnarounds and 11 maiden port calls.

Quebec City cruise terminal