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 nearly 2.8 million multi-day cruise passengers passing through during 2010. As a deep water cargo port, it has a high volume of traffic. Over 3,000,000 short tons (2,700,000 t) of bulk cargo moves through each year. Common cargo includes cement, petroleum and aggregate. The port has conveyors and hoppers for loading products directly into trucks, and facilities for bulk cargo containers. The channel is about 44 feet (13 m) deep.
There is 750,000 square feet (70,000 m2) of covered freight storage capacity. It handled 4,000,000 short tons (3,600,000 t) of cargo in 2004. 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. Port Canaveral's Foreign Trade Zone is among the largest general purpose FTZs in the nation - over 5 square miles (13 km2). The port boosts Brevard's economy by 1/2 billion dollars annually. In April 2007, shipping was off 25.6% for the previous six months compared to the previous year, down to 295,965 short tons (268,495 t) per months. This had risen to 401,544 short tons (364,275 t) in August 2010.
Plans:
The Canaveral Port Authority announced in 2006 plans for the future:
- Seaport Canaveral - Vitol SA built a fuel-tank depot with a pipeline to Orlando International Airport. This is a 36 acres (15 ha), 117 US gallons (440 l; 97 imp gal) million storage. It cost $150 million. This was completed in 2010.
- Attracting a mega-cruise ship (Freedom of the Seas and Carnival Dream in 2009 and Disney Dream in 2011)
- Widening of the port's channel
- Enlarging the western turning basin
- Construction of an additional cruise terminal
- Expansion of the Disney Cruise line terminal as well as a new parking garage with a direct second level walkway to the terminal.
Impact:
Every year about 200,000 cubic yards (150,000 m3) of sand builds up from 1 to 2 miles (1.6 to 3.2 km) north of the port's jetties., negatively impacting the beaches 10 to 15 miles (16 to 24 km) south of the jetties. The federal government (the Corps of Engineers) is responsible for reversing this impact.
