On Friday, May 29, Canada's Government extended by 3 months the ban on cruise ships entering Canadian territorial waters due to the ongoing pandemic.
The ban commenced in April and now runs through October 2020. It has been tightened to include riverboats and passenger ships with max capacity 100 people (passengers and crew). The original ban was on larger vessels - with capacity 500+ people.
Several Canadian port cities - including Montreal, Vancouver BC, Quebec City, where the cruise shipping is a major economic contributor, will suffer the most.
In 2019, Canada was visited by a total of 140 cruise ships that carryed around 2 million tourists.
Small tour boats, such as for whale watching, will be allowed to resume activities starting on July 1, in line with permission by local and provincial authorities. Nevertheless, the movement of ships with a capacity of 12+ people will be banned from Canadian Arctic coastal waters through October 31.
The new rules don't apply to small vessels used by local communities for fishing or transportation. Ferries will be allowed to continue but forced to implement strict safety and health measures. Anyone caught violating the ban faces a fine of CAD 5000 (USD 3600) per day for individuals and CAD 25000 (USD 18000) for businesses.