Opinion ID: 510023
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Port Canaveral

Text: 2 The Canaveral Port Authority (CPA or Port Authority) is an agency of the State of Florida charged with the construction and operation of a deep-water port at Cape Canaveral. The Port Authority has been endowed with broad authority over Port Canaveral and its operations, including authority to exercise police and tax powers, franchise services, and own and operate terminal and other facilities. See Chapter 28922, 1953 Laws of Florida 268; as amended, Joint Appendix (J.A.) at 926-51. 3 The Port itself consists of three adjacent basins and a dredged channel connecting the basins to the Intercoastal Waterway. The eastern basin and a majority of the land surrounding the middle basin is owned by the United States and used by the military and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The CPA exercises overall jurisdiction over the Port and owns and operates its commercial facilities, including warehouses, terminals for passenger cruise ships, and berths for tankers, barges, and commercial cargo ships. 4 The United States contracts for towing services in its part of the Port. From 1958 to 1983, these were provided by subsidiaries of intervenor Hvide Shipping, Inc. (collectively Hvide). Hvide's military contract allowed it to provide towing services to commercial vessels. Although, in 1983, Hvide became ineligible to bid for a renewal of the military towing contract because its revenues exceeded a Small Business Administration ceiling, it continued to serve as the sole provider of commercial tug and towing services under a franchise agreement with the CPA. The present agreement, J.A. at 722-25, provides that the Port Authority may not grant a franchise to any other commercial tug towing service without first holding a public hearing and determining that convenience and necessity so require. 5 In 1983, after Hvide had been found ineligible for a renewal, the military awarded its Port Canaveral tugboat business to Petchem. Prior to that time, Petchem had had no tugboat experience. In December 1983, before beginning work under its military contract, Petchem applied to the Port Authority for a non-exclusive franchise to provide commercial tug and towing services as well. The CPA appointed a committee to study the matter, and pursuant to the terms of its franchise agreement with Hvide, the Port Authority held a hearing in February 1984 at which it accepted its committee's recommendation that the Petchem application be denied. J.A. at 726-40.