Miami authorities have once again laid the groundwork for maintaining global leadership in cruise traffic, approving new terminals as well as expanding and renovating others.
MSC Cruises
The Italian shipping company has received final approval for its plan to build, operate, and maintain a large building that will house two cruise terminals, AA and AAA, as well as two berths capable of handling two mega-cruise ships, each with a capacity of up to 7,000 passengers. This would allow for two turnaround operations on the same day, reaching a total of 28,000 passenger movements.
Pierfrancesco Vago, CEO of MSC Cruises, expressed his satisfaction: “We couldn't be more proud of our long-term partnership with PortMiami and Miami-Dade County, and we look forward to continuing to work together in the coming years. From 2017 to 2027, MSC Cruises will launch 13 state-of-the-art cruise ships, expanding our fleet to a total of 25 ships and tripling our passenger capacity to over 5 million passengers annually. The new terminal, which, as the renderings show, will be one of the most innovative in the industry, will support MSC Cruises' expansion plans in North America, allowing our most innovative ships to be represented in PortMiami, the cruise capital of the world.”
Carnival Cruises
Carnival Cruise Line, for its part, received approval to completely renovate and expand Terminal F at PortMiami, so that it can operate the company's new Excel-class ships starting in 2022.
This will be PortMiami's third terminal dedicated to Carnival operations and will be the company's largest in North America. The agreement includes a commitment from Carnival to keep ships at Terminal F for 20 years, with an option for a 7-year extension. Construction will be completed in October 2022, in time to accommodate the arrival of the new Excel-class ship expected later that year.
“With this approval, we will quickly develop a plan to remodel and expand Terminal F to accommodate the most innovative ships joining our fleet,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “Over the past few months, we have had constructive discussions with leaders from PortMiami and Miami-Dade County regarding our plans for Miami and our goal of enhancing and expanding our capacity and operations at our homeport. Everyone is very excited that Miami will be the homeport for our first North American LNG-powered ship and sister ship to the Mardi Gras, which will arrive this August and is generating tremendous excitement. Both the new ship and the terminal will be ready in time for Carnival’s 50th Anniversary in 2022.”
Virgin Voyages
The new cruise line also received final approval for its project, which will rename Terminal H to Terminal V, in keeping with its commitment to having its own naming convention. The line's first ship, the Scarlet Lady, will depart from Miami in April 2020. The project, already well under construction, is inspired by the shape of palm trees and was designed by the Miami-based architecture firm Arquitectonica.
