Following months of floating the idea of Port Colborne as a place for cruise ships to dock, the city is seeing some progress.

Mayor Bill Steele met with senior officials from Viking River Cruises this month to discuss the cruise liner's upcoming expansion into the Great Lakes.

“Viking Cruises is currently building an expedition ship to cruise the Great Lakes in 2022,” said Steele. “Port Colborne will be one of the ports where the ships will be stopping.”

Viking River Cruises, headquartered in Switzerland, is one of the largest cruise lines in the world, chartering ships all over Europe.

“Viking is currently building two of these large 200-metre-long expedition ships,” said Steele, who noted the boats are being custom built to navigate the canal.

“In order to build to the max size, they worked with the Seaway (Corporation) to know the exact length and beam they can build,” said Steele. The Viking vessels will be able to hold about 385 passengers, according to Steele.

The city has also recently hosted a meeting with another cruise operator, Voyager, who are also looking at making Port Colborne a destination stop.

“We took them down to the west dock near our old works yard where we are looking to put those ships,” said Steele.

Attracting cruise ships has been a major focus of the city’s economic development office for the past year. The city believes cruise ship passengers could provide a major tourism boom during the summer season.

“This bodes well not only for the Great Lakes and the Seaway, but also the city of Port Colborne,” said Steele.