Port Canaveral has reversed a decision to constructed a new cruise terminal after pressure from Florida state officials.
Florida’s Department of Commerce Secretary J. Alex Kelly and Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue had threatened to withhold future port funding.
The state said the planned new cruise terminal would hinder expansion of the space industry which is also located in the Port Canaveral zone.
“Florida’s cruise tourism and commercial space sectors are both vitally important, and Port Canaveral has responsibility of both,” Kelly and Perdue wrote in a letter to the port authority board earlier this month.
“The port has announced its intention to support one sector to the direct detriment of the other. This must be reversed.”
The port has now backed down and scrapped the planned cruise terminal project.
“It’s tough to keep everybody happy all the time, but we do our best,” said Canaveral Port Authority CEO John Murray.
The state’s aerospace agency Space Florida says it needs to expand significantly within the Port area to keep pace with the fast growing private space industry in the coming years.
Port Canaveral is the second busiest cruise port after PortMiami.
