{"id":264,"date":"2013-03-15T09:07:45","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T15:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aapaseaports.naymicrosite2.wpengine.com\/?p=264"},"modified":"2016-04-29T21:55:59","modified_gmt":"2016-04-30T02:55:59","slug":"a-lasting-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/2013\/03\/15\/a-lasting-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lasting Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gaudreault<\/a>
Gaudreault receiving an award from AAPA for his service as chairman of the AAPA Canadian delegation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Former AAPA Chairman Ross Gaudreault led the Quebec Port Authority to impressive growth in his 23 years at the helm and established Quebec City as a top cruise destination on the St. Lawrence River<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Sarah Sain<\/em><\/p>\n

When Ross Gaudreault walks down the street in his hometown of Quebec City, it\u2019s not uncommon for a passerby to stop him and strike up a conversation.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just a part of daily life for the man who led the Quebec Port Authority for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got involved with everybody. Everyone knew me \u2013 they still do,\u201d he said. \u201cI was on the wharf. When we had cruise ships, I\u2019d be down there. The press knew me. I would talk to everyone. I took it as if I owned the port. I really got involved personally with all my energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that personal involvement and passion that helped contribute to unprecedented growth and diversification at the port and to a lasting legacy with the American Association of Port Authorities, of which Gaudreault is a proud member of still today.<\/p>\n

Investing in the Future<\/b><\/p>\n

Gaudreault, 71, joined the Port of Quebec in 1985 as chairman of the board. Little did he know that two years later, he would become president and CEO, spearheading the port\u2019s growth during his 23 years at the helm.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1987, the CEO of the port went for another job, and I had to look for a new CEO. We looked, but for some reason, someone must have sent me the light,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought, this is a great job, and I think I can turn the port around and bring in new business.\u201d<\/p>\n

He immediately brought in a team to analyze the areas in which the port should invest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I arrived at the port, it had a few dollars in the bank, and it was making money with interest. But I said, \u2018This is not our goal, we are not a bank. We are a port, and we must create economic activity and develop the port.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaudreault decided to capitalize on the port\u2019s unique situation along the St. Lawrence River. As the deepest port on the St. Lawrence in close proximity to Montreal, the port can accommodate larger ships.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to myself, \u2018We can become the transshipment port in the St. Lawrence for the American Great Lakes and the U.S. with coal and iron ore.\u2019 So we invested more than $200 million, and we went with our suitcases around the world with the American Great Lakes Association and the Canadian Great Lakes Associaton, and we sold the idea that the port would be a transshipment port. And that\u2019s what it has become.\u201d<\/p>\n

The port increased its annual tonnage from about 1.5 million tons that first year to more than 29 million tons in 2011.<\/p>\n

But it was another investment that Gaudreault made in the port at that time that sealed his legacy in Quebec and the industry at large.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was doing a lot of speeches for the Chamber of Commerce and making a lot of TV appearances then, but people didn\u2019t really care. Yes, they were conscious of the importance of the port, but handling iron ore and coal, it\u2019s not very sexy. Suddenly, I got the answer to get the people involved. I saw the first cruise ships arriving in Quebec City in 1987. I said, \u2018My god, this is something.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The location of the original cruise docks downtown near the old city offered tourists and locals a chance to interact. Gaudreault capitalized on that by working with the city to create parks and biking alleys.<\/p>\n

The port held big parties at the opening of each cruise season that would bring in 20,000 people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the Queen Mary 2 arrived for the first time in Quebec City, we had 25,000 singing songs on the port. That was fantastic,\u201d Gaudreault recalled.<\/p>\n

The port built a new cruise terminal in 2002, and it was renamed the Ross Gaudreault Cruise Terminal in 2010. Today, it hosts more than 150,000 passengers a year, and it\u2019s one of the highest rated cities with Holland America Cruise Lines.<\/p>\n

On its renaming, Port of Quebec Executive Vice President Marcel Labrecque said: \u201cRoss Gaudreault is truly worthy of this honor. The terminal was his project and his dream. He won over his opponents and rallied the citizens of Qu\u00e9bec City to make it happen. Over 500,000 passengers later, I think the time has come to congratulate him on a job more than well done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cruise terminal brought the attention of the people to the port \u2013 their port,\u201d Gaudreault said. \u201cThey started to understand that the port brought a lot to the economy for the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of his exhaustive efforts in growing the cruise business, Gaudreault was named Grand Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois by the Chamber of Commerce, and he received the AAPA Cruise Award in 2008.<\/p>\n

A Very Special Relationship<\/b><\/p>\n

After taking over the role of president and CEO at the Quebec Port Authority, Gaudreault attended his first AAPA Convention in 1987 in Galveston.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat began my love story,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met a lot of people. I met Kurt (Nagle, president and CEO of AAPA), and I got involved. It took a few years to get to know everyone, but I\u2019m the kind of guys, I get involved, I shake hands, I\u2019m easy to talk to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaudreault was named chairman of AAPA in 2000, and he served on the Executive Committee for a record 14 years, during which time he was integral in the in the creation of the Cruise Committee and Cruise Seminar.<\/p>\n

Before the first workshop in 1998 in Port Canaveral, Gaudreault said the goal of the event was to create relationships that before that time were non-existent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized when I went to Seatrade (Cruise Shipping Convention), the executives of the cruise industry didn\u2019t know about AAPA and vice versa. We had no contact. Cruise ships were coming to our ports, and we should have a special relationship with the cruise line executives. They should know who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, the picture has changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done a great job with AAPA over the years to let the cruise business know who we are. So when we go to Seatrade now, every member of AAPA, every port is there. The cruise executives know who AAPA is today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaudreault said during all his years in leadership at AAPA, one of his more memorable accomplishments was the success of the 2001 AAPA Convention, held in Quebec City just three weeks after the tragic events of Sept. 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter hearing the president of the United States on television say, \u2018America, let\u2019s go back to living life,\u2019 I called Kurt in Washington. I said, \u2018We\u2019re not cancelling.\u2019 We were the only American convention not cancelled in Quebec City at that time,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe had worked four years to organize that, so we said, \u2018Come to Quebec City, we\u2019re going to heal together.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

There were only a handful of cancellations, and more than 900 people attended the convention.<\/p>\n

Continuing to Enjoy Life<\/b><\/p>\n

Just a couple months after his retirement in December 2010, Gaudreault was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma, a rare cancer of the small intestine. He underwent surgery and chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

Today, he\u2019s happy to say he\u2019s doing well.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far I\u2019m cancer-free,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re checking me every few months \u2013 you have to watch for a small cell, but right now I\u2019m keeping my fingers crossed. My last test was very good, but they\u2019re checking me every three months. I\u2019m not 100 percent recovered because it takes a long time after the chemo, but you just have to learn to listen to your body. I\u2019m still active, but not as much as I was before, but it\u2019s coming back \u2013 I can see a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continues to recover and spends his time with the people he loves, doing the things he loves \u2013 volunteering (he\u2019s been president of the Board of Directors of the l’Enfant-J\u00e9sus Hospital Foundation for 24 years), traveling, biking, fishing and skiing in the winter.<\/p>\n

He also remains active in the ports community. He is an Honorary Member of AAPA, and he started a sought-after consulting firm \u2013 Ross Gaudreault Consultant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m refusing some customers because I don\u2019t want to work every day,\u201d he said. \u201cI picked a few that I really enjoy, and they\u2019re wonderful people to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

He played a role in helping one of his clients, the Port of Saguenay, expand its cruise business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have cruises now leaving New York or Boston and coming into the St. Lawrence,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have ships that cruise from Quebec City to Saguenay to Halifax to Saint-Pierre and back and exchanges passengers. That\u2019s something that I dreamed would happened, and I realized it last summer. Take a cruise from Quebec City and back.\u201d<\/p>\n

He looks forward to seeing many of his friends again this fall at the AAPA Convention in Port Canaveral.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still in contact with many friends from the industry, and when I was sick, I received so many emails from my friends in the U.S. and Latin America telling me to keep going, keep fighting,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve made so many friends in the 42 countries that are AAPA. And Kurt, he\u2019s a great friend. It is a fantastic organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read this article<\/a> now in AAPA Seaports Magazine\u2019s new interactive digital edition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former AAPA Chairman Ross Gaudreault led the Quebec Port Authority to impressive growth in his 23 years at the helm and established Quebec City as a top cruise destination on the St. Lawrence River By Sarah Sain When Ross Gaudreault walks down the street in his hometown of Quebec City, it\u2019s not uncommon for a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}