MSC Cruises Gets Approval for New PortMiami Cruise Terminal

MSC Cruises has received approval for its new cruise terminal at PortMiami from the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners on April 9.

The company would design, construct, operate and maintain a large building that hosts two cruise terminals (AA and AAA) as well as two berths. The terminal would support the company’s expanding presence in North America, and particularly in the Caribbean, according to MSC Cruises.

The new PortMiami terminals will be capable of hosting two mega cruise ships at the same time, allowing the company to conduct two turnaround operations simultaneously, handling up to 28,000 passenger movements per day.

“With another 13 cruise vessels due to join our fleet in the next eight years, our ambition is to have our most innovative ship classes represented at PortMiami,” Pierfrancesco Vago, MSC Cruises Executive Chairman, said.

MSC Cruises currently operates four vessels out of PortMiami, MSC Seaside and MSC Armonia year-round, MSC Divina seasonally, and MSC Meraviglia, which will join the ships sailing from Miami this fall, seasonally. With the new cruise facilities, the company will bring a total 1 million guests through PortMiami each year.

Work on the new terminals is scheduled to commence in early 2020. MSC Cruises estimates that the construction would be completed by late 2022, at which time the company would transfer all its PortMiami operations to the new terminal.