PortMiami looks to Wall Street for help to continue building cruise terminals
Miami-Dade is looking to borrow from Wall Street to fund its cruise terminal projects at PortMiami.
On Monday the county commission authorized the issuance of up to $500 million in special obligation bonds, $335 million designated for PortMiami. The approval comes as cruising in the U.S. remains banned until at least Oct. 1, and cruise companies have said they will not begin cruises until Oct. 31.
“Miami-Dade County is committed to growing the business at PortMiami,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez in a statement. “These bonds are critical to maintaining the progress at our Port. Because of its tremendous success, PortMiami is recognized as the Cruise Capital of the World and a Cargo Global Gateway. We are not stopping now!”
The rest of the money would go toward projects related to the county’s general fund, including a bike path and a fingerprint ID system.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic paralyzed the cruise industry, the county agreed to pay $700 million toward the cruise projects — five new terminals and two company headquarters. The cruise companies — Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, MSC Cruises and Virgin Voyages — agreed to repay the county $5.8 billion over the next 20 to 62 years.
Cruise companies and Miami-Dade County exchanged letters citing force majeure, or unforeseen circumstances, in order to get some relief from the payment deadlines after U.S. health authorities canceled cruises in mid-March. No agreement has been announced.
Construction on the Norwegian Cruise Line terminal finished earlier this year a few months behind schedule. Port director Juan Kuryla said in July that the Virgin terminal will remain on its planned timeline to finish before the arrival of the company’s second ship in November 2021. Timelines for the other pending projects are being renegotiated.
The biggest chunk of the $335 million in bonds would go toward construction of Virgin Voyages’ terminal — $130 million.
The original agreements backed by passenger fees — involving Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival Corporation and Virgin Voyages terminals — required the companies to pay the shortfall between the passenger fees promised and the passenger fees realized by the end of September, a sum Kuryla estimated in July to be $30 million for 1.6 million passengers.
