Port Everglades gets OK to lure giant cruise ships
Royal Caribbean's Genesis Project line of ships -- the world's largest -- would elevate the port's status, create jobs and boost tax revenues.
Posted on Wed, Aug. 08, 2007
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BY BREANNE GILPATRICK AND MARTHA BRANNIGAN
mbrannigan@MiamiHerald.com
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ROYAL CARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL
Port Everglades hopes to be the future home of Royal Caribbean's Genesis Project ships, which will cost up to $1.4 billion and carry 5,400 passengers.
The Broward County Commission Tuesday gave Port Everglades officials the go-ahead to negotiate a deal with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to bring the world's two largest cruise ships to Fort Lauderdale.
Port Everglades hopes to persuade Royal Caribbean to base both of its massive Genesis Project ships at the port, elevating its image as a key cruise port and providing an economic boost.
MIAMI INTEREST
The Miami-based cruise line also has been talking to the Port of Miami about basing the 220,000-ton vessels, slated for completion in the fall of 2009 and 2010, in Miami. It isn't clear where that proposal stands, and Port of Miami officials couldn't be reached Tuesday.
Royal Caribbean spokesman Michael Sheehan said Tuesday: ''We look forward to talking to Port Everglades.'' He also reiterated that the line is ``talking to several ports.''
Miami, the No. 1 cruise port in the world, is currently home to the largest ships, Royal Caribbean's 160,000-ton Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas.
5,400 PASSENGERS
The Genesis Project ships, which will cost about $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion, will carry 5,400 passengers and 2,100 crew.
Port officials contemplate paying for a $37.4 million expansion of Terminal 18 with a passenger head tax. ''We've already started the bidding process for the terminal improvements,'' Port Everglades director Philip C. Allen said.
The additional cruise travel generated by the vessels would create an estimated 3,844 jobs for Fort Lauderdale area residents and roughly $515.5 million in business revenue and local purchases, according to an economic impact study conducted by Martin Associates, a transportation and economic consulting firm in Lancaster, Pa.
TAX REVENUE
The study said that travel on the ships will generate an estimated $15.9 million in state and local taxes. The construction at Terminal 18 would create some 858 construction jobs.
Commissioner Stacy Ritter said the ships would be a ''feather in the cap of Broward County,'' bringing more tourists to the county's airport and hotels.
''I am very pleased today that the commission decided to move forward with the Genesis Project,'' Ritter told commissioners at the end of the meeting. ``If we can bring something like the Genesis class to our port, I think this is an economic benefit to our county.''
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