World’s largest cruise terminal nears PortMiami opening

PortMiami is preparing for growth with upcoming development focused on denser use to maximize limited port space, including an opening soon of the world’s largest cruise terminal.

The two primary sides to the seaport’s business are cruise and cargo, said Hydi Webb, PortMiami director and CEO. “Over the next five years, we have a very strong capital development program in place. We have about $2.4 billion in the next five years already, actually planned for.”

The port is an island of about 520 acres, she explained, and at a certain point it grows out of space. Much of the goal in the capital development program is focused on how to densify the port and how to make maximum use of the limited and valuable space.

“Of course, all of our capital development programs revolve around the net zero concepts and minimizing emissions here on the port,” said Ms. Webb.

“The county has a goal of reducing emissions on the port 50% by 2030, and our entire capital program is designed around that concept as well.”

Additionally, factors such as sea level rise, storm surge, electrical capacity, and sustainability are taken into consideration for cruise and cargo projects, she said.

When it comes to cruises, the seaport welcomes visitors from around the globe and nearby, and much behind-the-scenes work goes into creating the experiences visitors take home.

“We launched the shore power project, which is huge,” said Ms. Webb, “and now we’re in the process of commissioning the cruise vessels one by one to be able to hook up to the local grid, and we anticipate in this first year about 20 different cruise ships that will be able to hook up to shore power.

This was a huge commitment between the county, our cruise partners and FPL.”

PortMiami is the first port in the state and the largest port on the East Coast that will have the capability of shore power at five of its cruise terminals, said Ms. Webb. Globally, only 35 ports are shore power-ready on the cruise side. This represents about 2% of all of the cruise ports that have shore power.

Shore power reduces the vessel’s emissions by as much as 98% as it allows cruise vessels, while docked at the seaport, to turn off their engines and plug into the local grid.

Since the pandemic ended, said Ms. Webb, the port opened three new architectural cruise terminals that have changed the skyline.

“But in addition to the ones that you see now,” said Ms. Webb, “we have on the far east end of the port the MSC cruise terminal, which will be the world’s largest cruise terminal. It will ultimately have the capability to welcome three cruise ships from two different cruise lines. The first part of that project – which will open up towards the end of this year – will be for two births, and then ultimately we will build out what we call birth 10, which will be the third birth, by the end of 2028.”

This terminal is unique, she explained. Traditionally, all of the port’s cruise terminals are built with one ship and one cruise terminal. However, this is “more like an airport style where you have one terminal that will ultimately be able to service up to three cruise vessels from two different cruise lines.

That will open by the end of the calendar year.”

Currently out for bid is a new cruise Terminal G for Royal Caribbean, said Ms. Webb. The current cruise terminal and the port’s office building are going to be demolished in order to make way for a larger terminal able to accommodate an Oasis-Class vessel, “a 6,500-passenger vessel, which we cannot do in the current facility.” It is scheduled to be completed in winter of 2027 and will be a LEED certified building with a parking garage.

PortMiami is constantly working on general capital development programs on the cruise side, said Ms. Webb. “We opened up a new flyover this past December to take traffic from cruise Terminal B going east off of the main road, and we’re doing actually a traffic study and a road improvement study right now to be able to handle a new influx of cruise passengers coming – you’ll recall that last year we processed 7.3 million cruise passengers, which was a new world record, and we are anticipating to break that record this year.”

“We’re trying to get ahead of new volumes and make sure we have the proper infrastructure, whether it’s not only the cruise terminals,” she said, “but you need to have the proper roadways, you need to have the proper parking. We need to have the whole complete big picture to welcome these vessels.”

Upcoming cargo projects also revolve around the net zero concept.

“Our ultimate goal is to be able to be one of the nation’s first end-to-end net zero supply chain,” said Ms. Webb, “meaning that the whole cargo movement will be part of this NetZero Program, whether it’s an electric tugboat that’s greeting a vessel out in the ocean, to hooking up to our electric ship, to shore gantry cranes going through our yards with the electrical equipment on the rail and ultimately to its final destination.”

This plan will be a constant program, she explained. Many will depend on future grant funding that will be received. Additionally, a lot of the port’s net zero efforts can be done in pieces.

Beginning in August, said Ms. Webb, phase two of the port’s eRTG – electric rubber tire gantry cranes – program with South Florida Container Terminal to convert the yard from manual top pick operations to an eRTG operation will take place.

This means containers can be stacked higher, she said. It allows “for a more efficient way of operating your yards and in an environmentally friendly manner. Ultimately upon full completion, we will have 18 eRTGs operating in this yard. We’re looking at doing eRTGs in some of our other yards as well as electrification projects in all three of our yards. Perishables moving through the port have really grown, so a lot of what might have been diesel generators we’re converting to electrical reefers.”

In addition to the electrification, the port is also expanding.

PortMiami received a $16 million RAISE – Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity – grant to help expand the rail yard, said Ms. Webb. In addition to the expansion and adding a new track, there will be new electric handling equipment and eRTGs in the rail yard.

“We’re also looking to purchase new gantry cranes,” said Ms. Webb. “We’ll be putting up an RFP sometime next year – right now, we have 13 cranes – to purchase anywhere from four to six new gantry cranes.”

The seaport has also partnered with the Miami-Dade Innovation Authority, said Ms. Webb. The authority is a nonprofit organization that works with the public sector and technology companies to find solutions to certain challenges. The port identified a challenge that all ports face today: real-time tracking of containers and trucks, certain metric reports and advanced analytics. “We’ve gone out to the market through the … Miami-Dade Innovation Authority, and we’ll be announcing a handful of projects to pilot program out here in the port” by the end of the year.

Both long-term and short-term, said Ms. Webb, all the upcoming projects will benefit the community as emissions are reduced and the local community is built up.

“What I like about our capital program is it’s not just the port or the county investing,” said Ms. Webb. “All of our investments go hand-in-hand with our partners, whether they’re cruise partners or cargo partners, everything’s backed and supported with our partners, including financially.”