CHARLOTTE TOWN: The captain of the Holland America cruise ship Maasdam feels like a father to Port Charlottetown. Capt. Arno Juuten decided to take a walk around the redesigned area on Tuesday during a brief ceremony to officially recognize the grand re-opening.
“I think it’s wonderful,’’ is how Juuten summed things up. “I’ve been coming here for about 10 years myself and I’ve really seen this place develop a lot in 10 years, especially these last few months. Just from our view from the ship we’ve seen a lot of improvements and it looks great.’’
There is more room to park, more room for buses and taxis, a pedestrian walkway, benches to sit on – all of which surrounds a Charlottetown Seaport Centre that is bustling with activity when a ship is in. Juuten has certainly seen plenty of Charlottetown. Tuesday’s port call was the 204th time the Maasdam has docked in the P.E.I. capital city port.
Les Parsons, CEO of the Charlottetown Harbour Authority, said all of the work adds up to about a $3 million investment. “The west side (of the port) is really more pedestrian friendly for people. We’ve created sort of a parkland setting for the general public to come down and visit,’’ Parsons said.
The authority hopes the changes makes the area far more appealing to the public who, in the past, may have considered the area off limits to anyone but cruise ship passengers. Granted, there are still restricted areas for cruise ship passengers only, for obvious security reasons.
“What a difference 10 years makes,’’ said Stan MacPherson, chairman of the board for the authority, who also noted that the new port will help make the city’s waterfront that much more vibrant. “No more chain link fences.’’
Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee said all the work will certainly be a boost to the local economy. “When there is a ship in town the walk-up (traffic) we get in the city is incredible,’’ Lee said. The seaport centre itself features local retailers selling jewelry, clothing, old licence plates and some snacks. They combined to do $300,000 in sales last year.
