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Milestones & Accomplishments: Québec, Tampa

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The Port of Québec reports the 2013 cruise season was its second best ever. The Port of Tampa handles heavy and sometimes unusual cargoes many times throughout the year, but recently, the port handled some of its most unusual and colorful cargo ever – components of Falcon’s Fury™, a  335-foot free-fall tower being introduced into the Busch Gardens Tampa lineup of thrill rides.

Québec Wraps Up Second Best Cruise Season

The Port of Québec’s 2013 cruise season officially ended Sunday, October 27, with the departure of the Emerald Princess from berth 22.   It was one of three vessels along with Crystal Symphony and AIDAbella that brought more than 9,000 visitors to Quebec that weekend.

Preliminary numbers indicate 2013 was the port’s second best cruise season ever, with  approximately 161,000 visitors. This year for the first time in its history, Québec became a designated cruise ship homeport, for Holland America’s Veendam. During the season, the ship paid nine visits to Québec, using the port as a point of voyage origination or destination.  

"We are particularly proud of the growth rate in the cruise industry for the Port. In only a year, we succeeded in increasing the number of destination passengers of 10,000 more," said Mario Girard, the port authority’s president and chief executive officer. 

The findings of a study from the Ministère du Tourisme du Québec indicate that the international cruise ship industry creates C$85.9 million worth of direct economic benefits for the province of Québec. That represents C$329 per destination passenger and C$111 per stopover passenger.

Tampa Handles Large Components of Busch Gardens’ Falcon’s Newest Thrill Ride 

The Port of Tampa handles heavy and sometimes unusual cargoes many times throughout the year, but recently, the port handled some of its most unusual and colorful cargo ever – components of Falcon’s Fury™, a  335-foot free-fall tower being introduced into the Busch Gardens Tampa lineup of thrill rides.

The tower is comprised of nine sections, each up to 20 feet in diameter and weighing up to 95 tons, or 190,000 pounds. The total weight of the tower pieces that were offloaded at the port from the vessel m/v Nomadic Hjellestad was approximately 519 tons, or more than 1 million pounds of steel. The pieces were shipped from the Port of Tarragona in Spain and made the month-long trip of more than 4,700 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to Tampa. The ride pieces were then trucked to Busch Gardens over the course of two days, where they will be installed later this year.

"The Port of Tampa is a perfect location for project cargoes such as these large, steel components of Falcon’s Fury, a new and dynamic thrill ride. It shines a spotlight on our capabilities to handle heavy lift and specialized cargoes," said Port Authority President Paul Anderson. "It’s great to have world-renowned Busch Gardens to make use of our port and our expert workforce. We look forward to continuing to work with our partner Busch Gardens on future cargo opportunities."
  
Cylindrical pieces of the new free-fall ride for Busch Gardens Tampa Bay are offloaded at the Port of Tampa from the specialty cargo vessel m/v Nomadic Hjellestad, October 24. 
Photos/A. Fobes, Tampa Port Authority
 

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