Port Canaveral gets biggest chunk of $250 million coronavirus relief for Florida seaports
Florida’s seaports have been reeling from the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, and have not had much in the way of a bailout until now.
The state on Thursday began distributing $250 million to its 14 seaports from federal funds provided by the American Rescue Plan Act with the largest chunk going to Port Canaveral.
The Central Florida port that has about 80% of its income tied to the cruise industry received more than $72 million while PortMiami got nearly $67 million and Port Everglades more than $58 million. All three have been hit hard as the cruise industry shut down in March 2020, and along with smaller ports in Tampa, Jacksonville and Palm Beach, are responsible for 60% of cruise industry traffic every year.
“It’s been a real financial challenge for Port Canaveral over the last 16 months just to run our operations, support our business lines and maintain a level of readiness for when and how the cruise industry may begin sailing from our port again,” said Port CEO Capt. John Murray at an event held at the port’s new Cruise Terminal 3, where Carnival’s new ship Mardi Gras will depart with paying customers for the first time ever on Saturday.
Murray was on hand with Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Kevin Thibault to accept the money that Murray explained will help right the economic ship that foundered with the pandemic.
“When the cruise operations stop, we stop building and essentially that’s what we’ve been doing for the last year is we’ve ceased all of our capital construction projects and this will really help us get back on track,” he said.
Thibault said for every dollar invested in the state’s ports, it yields about $7 in revenue.
“Since seaport infrastructure lasts for 30 years, the infrastructure that we are funding today will definitely benefit generations to come,” he said.
Previous federal bailout packages have excluded ports for the most part, mainly because the cruise lines that support the ports are not American-flagged vessels, but the lack of business has still directly and indirectly affected the state’s economy. Thibault said combined, the state’s seaports have $117.6 billion of economic impact and support more than 900,000 jobs.
The cruise industry has just recently begun to sail from U.S. ports again after shutting down in March 2020. Port Everglades welcomed the first vessel with paying customers in June followed by ships sailing out of Miami. Port Canaveral joins the return to business this week with Mardi Gras.
The port has seen more than a $50 million financial loss since the shutdown forcing it to dip into its reserves. While it was able to complete work on the new Carnival cruise terminal, it had to pull back on renovation work for Disney’s Cruise Terminal 8 and adjacent Cruise Terminal 10.
“This relief funding is incredibly important to Port Canaveral and critically necessary to us and the many thousands of jobs that depend on our success,” Murray said.
