Florida Gives Port Canaveral $24.4 Million to Complete Harbor Improvements

The Maritime Executive reports today that Port Canaveral will get $24.4 million in state funding to complete its harbor widening and deepening project to accommodate larger cruise and cargo ships. The money from the Florida Department of Transportation ("FDOT") will allow the project to be completed four years earlier than possible through the federal process.

During his recent visit to Port Canaveral, Florida Governor Rick Scott emphasized the importance of Florida’s seaports for increasing the state’s international competitiveness and for generating high-paying jobs. A FDOT study shows every $1 invested in seaports generates $7 to the state’s economy. The channel improvement project is expected to yield $11 for every dollar invested.

With this remarkable news, Port Canaveral should rethink its current practice of charging cruise passengers $20 a day to park in a spacious port terminal. For a cruise passenger taking a one-week cruise out of Port Canaveral, that is a parking bill of $140.00--a charge that is not posted anywhere prior to a visitor parking at Port Canaveral. While Florida's Space Coast may be financially struggling after the retirement of the Space Shuttle program, there is no reason for Port Canaveral to financially squeeze visitors to the area as a way to "make up" for a loss that has nothing to do with those visitors. If Port Canaveral wants to insure return visitors with the opening of their new Cruise Terminal 6, its officials may need to reconsider this current plan of fleecing visitors to its parking lots.

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