Royal Caribbean Cruises plans to build a state of the art new cruise terminal in Miami capable of handling the world’s largest cruise ships.
The 170,000-square-foot terminal is nicknamed the ‘Crown of Miami’ because of its distinct shape.
The building will serve as homeport to Royal Caribbean International ships, including a 5,400-passenger Oasis-class ship, the world’s largest cruise vessel.
The port currently handles 750,000 Royal Caribbean passengers a year, representing about 15% of its overall passenger traffic.
No timeframe or cost of the project was disclosed however it is due to come before the Miami-Dade County Board of county commissioners on July 6.
Royal Caribbean will generate at least 1.8 million passengers at Port Miami when the new terminal is opened – representing 30% of the port’s projected passenger traffic.
Carlos Gimenez, Miami-Dade County mayor, said: “This public-private partnership will have an estimated economic impact of $500 million and generate approximately 4,000 jobs.
“Royal Caribbean has been an important part of our world-class community for almost 50 years, and this expansion will once again make PortMiami Royal Caribbean’s largest cruise port in the world.”
Royal Caribbean Cruises chairman and CEO Richard Fain said: “This new terminal is a symbol of our commitment to Miami, the city where our company first started almost 50 years ago. We can’t wait to bring an Oasis-class ship to PortMiami.”