PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. — This Wednesday, Port Canaveral welcomed travelers boarding Royal Caribbean’s newest mega-ship, Star of the Seas.
Dayle Bland told Eyewitness News, “Oh, we absolutely made our trip with this ship in mind because she’s the biggest in the world. We’re so excited.”
Port Canaveral has already seen 8.4 million passengers this fiscal year and is projecting 9 million passengers next year, according to Port CEO Capt. John Murray. He told us today, “We need to have more garages. The ships are bigger. We’re limited to six terminals at this point in time. And until we can get that seventh terminal online, we have to make more use of our existing assets.”
Port Commissioners, who met today, also heard a proposal to increase parking fees for the first time since 2017, from $17 to $20 per day. They must also consider the impact of recent tariffs on port operations.
The port’s newest mobile harbor crane could cost an additional $1,000,000 due to tariffs.
Capt. Murray added,“There’s so many components that aren’t readily available in the United States. Docking fenders, for example, the fenders on our berths, those are all sourced in other countries. It’s just a matter of where things come from, and depending what the tariffs are, it just adds to our operating expense, our capital expense.”
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