| PortMiami shore power

A letter of intent has been signed to bring shore power to PortMiami, according to The Miami Herald.

The county’s Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Florida Power & Light Chief Executive Officer Eric Silagy signed the letter, along with the chief executives of six cruise companies – Carnival Corporation, Disney Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Royal Caribbean Group, and Virgin Voyages.

Florida Power & Light, the cruise companies, and representatives from Miami-Dade will form a task force to work through the logistical and funding challenges of installing shore power.

The letter does not include any timeline for the installation, with a spokesperson for Levine Cava saying the goal is to have at least one hookup installed within a year or two.

Levine Cava announced the letter during the Miami-Dade board of commissioners’ discussion of a new terminal for MSC, which was also approved, in unanimous fashion.

Port Director Juan Kuryla said the terminal would be outfitted with shore power, to be installed at the same time as the new terminals are being built.

According to a 2018 report from Port Everglades, in 2008, Florida Power & Light estimated it would cost US$7.5 million to equip a single cruise berth with shore power, with the recently developed hookup in Brooklyn costing $20 million.

Including the new MSC terminal, PortMiami has been moving forward with a number of its major cruise line expansion projects despite the current pause in sailing in the United States (CW 03 Sep 2020).