Port Canaveral
Port Canaveral is a cruise, cargo, and naval port in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world with 4.5 million cruise passengers passing through during 2016. Over 5.4 million tonnes of bulk cargo moves through each year. Primary cargoes include slag, salt, vehicles, containers, petroleum, heavy equipment, lumber, and aggregate. The port has conveyors and hoppers for loading products directly into trucks and facilities for bulk-cargo containers. The channel is about deep. 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. On average, ten ships enter the port each day. This includes ships from cruise lines such as Carnival, Disney, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and more. Governing authority. The Canaveral Port Authority was established in 1953 by the State Legislature and consists of the Board of Commissioners and the Executive Management Team. The Board sets policies such as fiscal, regulatory, and operations, while the executives are responsible for administrative and operational  duties. In October 2015 the board voted unanimously to terminate embattled CEO John Walsh. Walsh clashed with residents over a controversial plan to build a cargo railway through a federally managed wildlife refuge. Walsh drew community outrage after calling opponents of his plan "Luddites" and "dogs chasing moving cars." Walsh lied about documentation from the United States Air Force, relating to building the Canaveral Rail through the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The five Commissioners of the Board 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. The Executive Management Team is headed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In 2013, there were 233 staff members, 162 full-time, 71 part-time. In FY 2017, the Canaveral Port Authority had 223 full-time equivalent employees. History. A columnist grouped the history of the actual port into four eras, roughly paralleling the terms of the several directors: 1) initial construction and operation of the port with no clearcut separation of governance and management 1947–2004, 2) expansion of port facilities. Port becomes second in cruise business worldwide 2004–2013, 3) political friction between governance  and management 2013–2016, 4) modern era 2016–today. Artesia. A post office in the area was built and listed in the US Post Office application as Artesia. and retained this name from 1893–1954; and then went into service for Port Canaveral from 1954–1962. Dredging a port. The idea of developing a port at this location was first conceived in the 1880s. The port was dredged between 1951 and 1955. Dedication occurred November 4, 1953, with the Navy destroyer escort participating. Florida U.S. Senator Spessard Holland was the keynote speaker. Noah Butt, 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 "MormacSpruce". In 1955, the Tropicana Corporation began building a refrigerated warehouse for storing orange juice, a local agricultural product, prior to shipping. Port. Cruise traffic appeared at the port in 1964, with the , 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, Bahamas in 1965, and cruise traffic was limited until the 1980s. In 1965, a lock was dedicated at the port, as part of the Canaveral Barge Canal. 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 a role in support of  NASA projects out of nearby Kennedy Space Center. During the Apollo program, segments of the Saturn V rocket transited through the port and lock. Most recently the Space Shuttle's external tanks were floated into Port Canaveral for each mission, and the solid rocket boosters were towed back through Port Canaveral after being fished out of the Atlantic Ocean after each launch. NASA contributed $250,000 for improvements in the lock in 1965. In 1990, Morton Salt began operations at the port. In 2018, it imported salt from The Bahamas and produced of pool, water softener, sea salt, and agricultural  salts. Prior to its disestablishment in 2000, Premier Cruise Line was headquartered in Cape Canaveral. In 2008, Sterling Casino Lines ceased doing business at the port. But just a week later, the Las Vegas Casino Line began operating gambling cruises. On March 25, 2009, the Las Vegas Casino Line filed for bankruptcy, joining the Sterling Casino on the list of failed 'Casino Lines' to operate out of Port Canaveral. In 2009, a commissioner resigned and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced that it was conducting an investigation into possible corruption at the port. In 2009, the last cruise company  to offer gambling, SunCruz Casinos, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy (liquidation). The companies failed due to competition from land-based gambling activities in Seminole Casinos, and Greyhound racing venues. Gambling liners hit a high on 1.0 million passengers in 2004, before starting to decline. Casino operations generated about $5–$6 million annually for the port. Mega-cruise ships "Freedom of the Seas" and "Carnival Dream" were homeported in Port Canaveral in 2009, followed by the "Disney Dream" in 2011. In the 2010s, SpaceX began using the port for their autonomous spaceport drone ships. In April 2016, the ASDS "Of Course  I Still Love You" returned the first Falcon 9 booster recovered at sea to Port Canaveral. Seaport Canaveral was completed in 2010. Vitol SA built a fuel-tank depot with a pipeline to Orlando International Airport. The , million storage depot cost $150 million. Cruise Terminal 6 opened in mid-2012, for "Carnival Dream", "Carnival Sensation", and other Carnival ships. A recent addition to the port is the seven-story Exploration Tower, which offers tourists almost of exhibit space, interactive displays, two observation decks – one inside and one outside – a 72-seat auditorium, event rooms, and a café and gift shop . Cruise traffic. Carnival, Disney, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean International are some of the cruise lines which dock at one of the five cruise terminals. The port hosted 109,175 multi-day cruise passengers in October 2008. There was a high of 307,005 passengers in April 2009. This fell to a seasonal low of 221,557 in October. With the loss of daily gambling ship cruises, port authorities do not expect this high to be exceeded for some time. There were 2.8 million passengers in 2010. 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 10,427-ton ship, was the first cruise ship to home-port at Port Canaveral. Early cruises were simple day cruises out into the ocean and back. The Port then purchased two former Bicentennial exhibit halls from NASA in 1983 and they became Terminals 2 and 3 in 1983. The following year the "SS Royale" of Premier Cruise Line was home-ported at Port Canaveral. The first year-round 3- and 4-day cruises to  the Bahamas began. A fourth cruise terminal was built in 1986. Expansion into the Western Turning Basin began with the construction of Terminal 5. The "Carnival Fantasy" started sailing from there at that time becoming the first mega-ship to call the Port home. In December 2014, Port Canaveral and Royal Caribbean International opened Terminal 1, a new terminal building built to handle the Oasis class ships. It was announced in March 2015 that Port Canaveral would become the new home port of the world's largest cruise ship, the "Oasis of the Seas". Ships based out of Port Canaveral . The following ships are home-ported at Port Canaveral: US Navy. The Naval Ordinance Test Unit operates the naval port. They have 100 sailors and 70 subcontractors. In 2011, the support ship was homeported at the port. The Trident Turning Basin supports Navy ballistic missile submarines. Statistics. In 2011, about 75 percent of cargo was fuel. Overall tonnage rose 40 percent ahead of 2010. In fiscal year 2007-8, 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. In 2008, cruise passengers held fairly steady at about 200,000 per month for the year. In 2007, 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. The port handled of petroleum, equivalent to of fuel in 2010. Carnival has 140 employees resident at the port. The channel leading to the port is wide and long. 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. Twenty-first century. Two cranes, tall, and weighing , were installed for use with cargo in 2014. These were used, cost $50,000 and required remodeling. In FY 2017-8, the port expects to gross $100 million, and net $3 million. About 60% of revenue comes from cruise lines. Cruise-related parking is 18%. About 22% is derived from cargo. Petroleum and related bottled products constitutes 43% of cargo. In 2017, the port planned to replace the small third terminal with a $150 million one, , in 2019. In 2018, the port announced a planned agreement with Carnival  Cruise Line to accommodate Carnival's new ship. This ship would use the now under construction Terminal 3 as its home-port. Recreation. The Canaveral Port Authority owns and operates Jetty Park. In 2016, 325,000 people visited the park. Impact. Ocean currents move sand along the coast in a natural process known as longshore drift. Because Port Canaveral interrupts this movement of sand, each year about of sand builds up on the beaches located north of the port's jetties, and sand erodes from the beaches 10 to 15 miles (16 to 24 km) south of the jetties. To counteract  this effect the Canaveral Harbor Federal Sand Bypass Project transfers sand from the shoreline north of the harbor entrance to areas of shoreline south of the entrance. This plan is implemented through a partnership of Canaveral Port Authority, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Jacksonville District), and the State of Florida and Brevard County.