International Marine Passenger Terminal is a cruise ship passenger terminal located in the

Port of Toronto The Port of Toronto is an inland port on the northwest shoreline of Lake Ontario in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The port covers over of land on the eastern shore of the Toronto Harbour, in an area known as the Port Lands. The port includes several ...

at 8 Unwin Avenue in

Port Lands The Port Lands (also known as Portlands) of Toronto, Ontario, Canada are an industrial and recreational neighbourhood located about 5 kilometres south-east of downtown, located on the former Don River delta and most of Ashbridge's Bay. Approxi ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. The facility is operated by

PortsToronto The Toronto Port Authority (TPA), doing business as PortsToronto (PT), is a port authority that is responsible for the management of the Port of Toronto, including the International Marine Passenger Terminal, and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. ...

History

The terminal was opened in 2005. It was originally built to accommodate '' The Spirit of Ontario I,'' a water-jet powered big catamaran fast ferry that was to make several round trips per day between Toronto, Ontario and

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, but the ferry service only ran for a total of six months. The Rochester firm that owned and operated the ferry had a 14-year lease on the use of the terminal that would have paid the City of Toronto $250,000 per year. The lease was terminated in December 2009 after payment of a $90,000 settlement. Since the demise of the fast ferry service,

has been promoting Toronto as a cruise ship destination. Cruise ships that serve American and European tourists travelling on the Great Lakes between May and October are making increasing use of the terminal as a port of call over the summer months. Indeed cruise passenger volumes at a variety of Great Lakes ports, which cumulatively had 100,000 passengers in 2018, increased between 2015 and 2019 reflecting increased touring on the Great Lakes.

Terminal building

The terminal is a two-storey building which has of floor space and can deploy an adjustable passenger ramp from the second storey. The terminal facility is reported to have cost either or to construct. The terminal building is also regularly used as a film location. For its three years in production the CBC drama '' The Border'' used the customs facilities of the terminal as the headquarters of an elite customs and border squad. Renting the terminal for filming costs $3,500 per day.

Traffic

Cruise ships that have made multiple ports of call over the last few years include the 420 passenger MS ''Hamburg'', the 180 passenger MV ''Le Champlain'' and the 210 passenger MV ''Victory I''. On October 14, 2019 the terminal processed a record 988 people when the ''Hamburg'', the ''Le Champlain'' and their passengers and crew docked on the same day.

References

{{Reflist, refs={{cite news , url = https://torontosun.com/travel/local-travel/explore-the-great-lakes-on-a-cruise-ship , title = Explore the Great Lakes on a cruise ship , work =

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

, author = Jane Stevenson , date = 2019-06-02 , accessdate = 2019-12-24 , quote = Cruise the Great Lakes’ inaugural half-season last year, which began in August, saw 17 ships — roughly 6,000 passengers — visit Toronto. This season, about 35 ships are expected to dock in the city between May and October. {{cite tweet , url = https://twitter.com/PortsToronto/status/1183778718549975041 , number = 1183778718549975041 , username = PortsToronto , user = PortsToronto , title = No, you're not seeing double. @Ponant_Cruises ' MV Le Champlain and the MS Hamburg are docked at the Port of Toronto today as part of their Great Lakes cruise itineraries. Our Cruise Ship Terminal will process a record 988 passengers today. Welcome to Toronto! #CruiseGreatLakes , tweet = No, you're not seeing double. @Ponant_Cruises ' MV Le Champlain and the MS Hamburg are docked at the Port of Toronto today as part of their Great Lakes cruise itineraries. Our Cruise Ship Terminal will process a record 988 passengers today. Welcome to Toronto! #CruiseGreatLakes , date = 2019-10-14 , accessdate = 2019-12-24 {{cite web , url = https://www.portstoronto.com/portstoronto/accountability/reports-and-publications.aspx , title = Reports and publications , work =

Ports Toronto The Toronto Port Authority (TPA), doing business as PortsToronto (PT), is a port authority that is responsible for the management of the Port of Toronto, including the International Marine Passenger Terminal, and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport ...

, author = , date = , page = , location = , isbn = , language = , trans-title = , accessdate = 2019-12-24 , quote = Buildings and structures completed in 2005 Buildings and structures in Toronto Water transport in Toronto Ferry terminals in Canada Transport buildings and structures in Ontario 2005 establishments in Ontario