Recommend May2017 - 46

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Port Canaveral
"You can go to Port Canaveral
a day or two early from the
day your ship departs and
watch a rocket launch. If you
happen to be in port during
one of those launches, it's a
neat thing to see."
- Captain John Murray, Port Director and
CEO, Canaveral Port Authority

Since its inception in the 1980s, Port
Canaveral has become the number
two port in the world, according to
Captain John Murray, port director and
CEO at Canaveral Port Authority.
This year, the port anticipates a total
of 4.2 million multi-day passengers,
and annually it receives about 100
port calls. He notes that a little over
50 percent of the port's passengers are
drive-ins and that many "ducktail their
cruise vacation with time in Orlando at
the theme parks and other recreational
activities that we have in this part of
the state." He adds that Kennedy Space
Center is the number one attraction
in the area. "Port Canaveral is a very
unique port; we are in the fastestgrowing market in Florida. We are
ideally positioned only 45 minutes from
Orlando proper," says Murray.

What's to Come

"One of the things we anticipate over
the next few years is the development
and design of our next generation
cruise terminal," he says. "Last year,
we spent $87 million upgrading two
of our older facilities to bring them
up to par with the new larger ships.
When they were built, passenger ships
were 2,000 passengers, now they're
4,500 and 5,500, so we had to upgrade
the facilities, from the customs and
border protection facilities to baggage
46 may 2017

lay-down areas, to general seating
for passengers. We did that to two
terminals, and we are now looking into
the development of the next generation
of cruise terminals, which will be
capable of handling the largest cruise
ships in the world."
Construction for the new terminals
could begin as early as next year, in
hopes to be running by 2020. These
upgrades will be done in anticipation
of the liquefied natural gas-run ships
that some cruise lines are now building.
Murray notes that, "If you look at the
order books for the global cruise ship
deliveries, there are quite a number
of vessels, some of which are rather
significant in size, and if you look at
the largest of the cruise ships, they
can't go to many ports because of air
draft restrictions or water draft. We
don't have any air draft issues in Port
Canaveral, so we can take essentially
the largest ships in the world here.
"I think this is something that we
think we're a little further along than
some other places right now. We
are pro-actively looking at how we
can manage that demand when any
cruise operator says, 'Hey, we want to
bring one of our LNG ships to Port
Canaveral; can you handle it?' We want
to be front and center and say, 'Yes, we
can.' We want to be ready for when
those ships are delivered."

Ships & Rockets

One unique attraction guests won't
find at any other port is the possibility
of seeing rockets launch. "We are at a
mode now where we have commercial
space industry descending on Port
Canaveral. The newer companies like
Blue Origin and SpaceX are recovering
their boosters offshore and bringing
them back to the port. That's becoming
the second significant part of our
port business because these launches
go about every two weeks...that's
becoming more of an attraction to this
area. We can have two-three launches a
week by 2020." Murray notes that, "You
can go to Port Canaveral a day or two
early from the day your ship departs and
watch a rocket launch. If you happen to
be in port during one of those launches,
or you're here getting on a cruise vessel
before or after, it's a neat thing to see
because they land them on a ship
offshore or land them back at Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station.
"With the increased frequency
of launch schedule, I think it's going to
add to our tourist portfolio,"
says Murray.

CONTACT INFORMATION
David Poston
Tel: (321) 783-7831, ext 213
E-mail: dposton@portcanaveral.com
Website: portcanaveral.com/cruise
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