|
|
|
|
Port Canaveral
|
| |
|
| |
Port Canaveral is a major cruise and cargo port located in Brevard County, Florida.
Port Canaveral is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world with nearly 1.3 million multi-day cruise passengers passing through during 2007. The port hosted 109,175 multi-day cruise passengers in October 2008.
Carnival, Disney, and Royal Caribbean International, are some of the cruise lines which regularly dock at one of the six cruise terminals. The port also bears operations for a gambling vessel operated by SunCruz Casinos.
A world-class deep water port, Port Canaveral also has a high volume of cargo traffic.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Port Canaveral' Start a new discussion about 'Port Canaveral' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Port Canaveral is a major cruise and cargo port located in Brevard County, Florida.
Port Canaveral is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world with nearly 1.3 million multi-day cruise passengers passing through during 2007. The port hosted 109,175 multi-day cruise passengers in October 2008.
Carnival, Disney, and Royal Caribbean International, are some of the cruise lines which regularly dock at one of the six cruise terminals. The port also bears operations for a gambling vessel operated by SunCruz Casinos.
A world-class deep water port, Port Canaveral also has a high volume of cargo traffic. Over of bulk cargo moves through Port Canaveral each year. Commonly shipped cargo includes
cement, petroleum and aggregate. The port is equipped with conveyors and hoppers for loading products directly into trucks, and facilities for bulk cargo containers.
There is of covered freight storage capacity. It handled of cargo in 2004. The port exports fresh citrus; bulk frozen citrus juice stored in one of the largest freezer warehouses in the state; cement and building materials. The port receives lumber, salt for water softening, automobiles, and steel sheet and plate. It transships items for land, sea, air and space. Port Canaveral's Foreign Trade Zone is among the largest general purpose FTZs in the nation - over . The port boosts Brevard's economy by 1/2 billion dollars annually.
In April 2007, shipping was off 25.6% for the previous six months compared to the previous year, down to per months.
Governing Authority
Port commissioners are elected from the surrounding area by popular vote. They must live in specific areas, but are elected by voters in all five districts. The races are partisan.
District 1 - Ray Sharkey
District 2 - Joe D. Matheny
District 3 - Tom Goodson
District 4 - Ralph Kennedy
District 5 - Rodney S. Ketcham -- deceased; Governor Crist appointed Charlie Ragland to fill the remainder of Ketcham's unexpired term, until January, 2009.
Salary is $10,083.72 annually.
Chief Executive Officer (appointed) - J. Stanley Payne
History
Concept and early development
The idea of developing a port at this location was first conceived in the 1880s. Dedication occurred November 4, 1953, with the navy destroyer escort USS McClelland (DE-750) participating. Noah Butts, a former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, was the first Chairman of the Canaveral Port Authority. The first port manager, George King, was announced in 1954. Commercial fishing had already begun at the port, and in the next year commercial shipping began, with a load of bagged cement delivered by the SS Morman Spruce. In 1955, the Tropicana Corporation began building a refrigerated warehouse for the purpose of storing orange juice, a significant local agricultural product, prior to shipping.
Cruise traffic first appeared at the port in 1964, with the SS Yarmouth Castle, recently purchased by Yarmouth Cruise Lines from the Chadade Steamship Company. The ship was American owned, with registration from Panama. The ship burned at sea between Miami and Nassau in 1965, and cruise traffic was limited until the 1980s.
In 1965, a lock was dedicated at the port. The Canaveral Lock is still in operation, and is maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The focus of the port throughout the 1960s and 1970s remained commercial fishing and shipping, with three cargo piers built on the north side of the Port in 1976, and a succession of warehouses built in the port area.
Port Canaveral has played an important role in support of NASA projects out of nearby John F. Kennedy Space Center. Specifically, the Space Shuttle's external tanks are floated into Port Canaveral for each mission from their fabrication facility in Mississippi, and the solid rocket boosters are towed back through Port Canaveral after being fished out of the Atlantic Ocean after each launch.
In 2008, Sterling Casino Lines ceased doing business at the port.
Cruise traffic
In the early 1980s, a new port director, Charles Rowland, shifted the focus towards developing the port to a Cruise port. In 1982, a warehouse on the north side of the port was converted into Cruise Terminal 1. The SS Scandinavian Sea, a ship, was the first cruise ship to homeport at Port Canaveral. Early cruises were simple day cruises out into the ocean and back.
Expanding the Cruise capability of the port begun in 1982, two more warehouses were converted to cruise terminals in 1983. The following year the SS Royale of Premier Cruise Line was homeported at Port Canaveral. The first year-round 3- and 4-day cruises to the Bahamas began. A fourth cruise terminal was opened in 1986.
As of February 2009, the following cruise ships homeported at Port Canaveral:
Monarch of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) sailing Fridays and Mondays
Freedom of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) sailing Sundays beginning May, 2009
Carnival Sensation (Carnival Cruise Lines) sailing Thursdays and Sundays
Carnival Glory (Carnival Cruise Lines) sailing Saturdays
Disney Wonder (Disney Cruise Lines) sailing Thursdays and Sundays
Disney Magic (Disney Cruise Lines) sailing Saturdays
Royal Caribbean is currently undergoing changes to its ship lineup at Port Canaveral. In December 2008, Sovereign of the Seas was retired from its fleet and transferred to Pullmantur Cruises, and was replaced by one of its sister ships the Monarch of the Seas. In early 2009, they moved the Mariner of the Seas to the Port of Los Angeles. In May 2009, they plan to move the Freedom of the Seas to Port Canaveral to replace the Mariner of the Seas.
Carnival Cruise Lines has announced that its new Carnival Dream will make Port Canaveral its home in December 2009 after several European cruises following its September launch. Norwegian Cruise Line announced that beginning in October 2010, the Norwegian Sun will be homeported at Port Canaveral, offering winter (October to April) 7-night cruises alternating eastern and western itineraries.
Statistics
Fiscal year 2007-8 started slowly. There was a 44.5% drop in cargo in October and November compared with the preceding year. Multiday cruise passengers dropped 14.4%, and gambling passengers dropped 23.7%. Cargo slowdown was attributed to a slowdown in construction in Florida due to the weakened housing market.
Cement imports, tied to construction, was , a drop of 87.6% for the two month comparison with the previous year. Petroleum, the ports largest single import, was , a drop of 25% over the same period.
SeaFest
The SeaFest seafood festival was first held in 1983. The celebration occurred over three days in early spring, and was co-hosted by the Cocoa Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and the Canaveral Port Authority. It featured live music, local artists, and seafood. In 2005, the final year of the festival at the port, of freshly caught fish, including flounder, Florida rock shrimp, blue crab claws and of seafood chowder were consumed at the festival. In 2006, because of security concerns and the site being needed for cargo, the festival was forced to move elsewhere and was renamed. In 2008 it tried to move back but was canceled.
Future plans
The Canaveral Port Authority announced in 2006
Footnotes
External links
|
| |
|
|
