Miami-Dade passing on another chance to cut pollution from cruise ships at PortMiami
Miami-Dade leaders on Tuesday advanced another PortMiami terminal project — but without modern pollution controls already adopted by cruise ships docking there. Under the plan, the county will spend $177,200,000 to build the new MSC Cruises terminal but won’t let vessels connect to shore power.
Commissioners broke into applause after the unanimous vote in the PortMiami and Environmental Resilience Committee, which approved the construction deal. The arrangement involves a mix of county and MSC dollars for a 62-year lease on a $577,200,000 terminal that can accommodate up to three cruise ships at the same time.
While MSC has joined much of the cruise industry by equipping its ships with shore power capability, vessels would continue belching toxic gas from their smokestacks since the county declined to require hook ups in any of its new terminals.
The vote came days after a Miami Herald story on the lack of shore power at PortMiami. The county has opted to forego electric hook-ups at four other new port terminals that will cost about $700 million in public funds.
Like other cruise lines building new PortMiami terminals, MSC has already upgraded its ships to use shore power in other ports. It signed a deal with the county that doesn’t include shore power equipment because the county didn’t require it.
In an interview after the vote, the chairman of MSC Cruises USA declined to address why shore power didn’t come with the terminal deal. But it should be a future priority for the port, he said.
“Right now the industry has a challenge because not all ports have shore power,” said Richard Sasso, the MSC Cruises USA chairman. “The industry is very progressive and very proactive.”
On the company’s deal to build a terminal without shore power at PortMiami, Sasso said: “This was a port project that had nothing to do with the environmental issue at that point in time. It needs to be now.”
The priority for MSC’s current project was jobs and economic growth, he said. Construction on the new terminal is expected to create 1,500 jobs. “The process here had to do with getting the capacity to build more piers for ships. It’s about growth of the community...All that other stuff will come...It’s definitely on the agenda.”
Miami-Dade has never required cruise terminals to provide power hook-ups — not even during an historic construction spree over the last several years. The county’s new mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, won office in November in part on a pro-environment platform. Her administration forwarded the MSC terminal deal to the commission, and the mayor’s representatives did not raise the issue ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
The chairwoman of the committee, Commissioner Rebeca Sosa, said she is requesting county lawyers draft legislation to pursue the installation of shore power at PortMiami terminals in response to the Herald article. She said the bill would focus on modifying county-owned terminals once the cruise industry recovers from a near year-long shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We can retrofit when the economy comes back,” Sosa said.
The MSC terminal deal is expected to go before the full commission for a final vote on February 17.
Shore power allows ships to turn off their engines while they are in port and plug into the local electric grid instead of idling and spewing fumes during stays that typically last 10 hours. It has been installed at seven other U.S. cruise ports since 2001 and was part of a master plan for PortMiami drafted by the county in 2011.
EPA data shows shore power could reduce carbon emissions at PortMiami by about 35%. Emissions dangerous to human health — sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide — could be cut by 67% and 99%, respectively.
Cruise companies, including MSC Cruises, have spent millions outfitting their ships with plugs to be able to use shore power. At least 15 shore power-equipped ships, including MSC Meraviglia and MSC Seaside, have visited PortMiami hundreds of times in the last decade, emitting avoidable greenhouse gases and exhaust dangerous to human health because the port doesn’t provide shore power.
Installing a single port-side shore power hookup costs about $20 million. The price can go higher if substations are needed.
Levine Cava told an audience of Miami Beach residents on Monday night that she was eager to get shore power at Port Miami. Her comments came during a panel discussion with Miami Beach Commissioner Micky Steinberg, Miami-Dade County Chief Bay Officer Irela Bague and Miami Beach Environment and Sustainability Director Betsy Wheaton.
South Beach resident Matthew Gultanoff, 35, attended the panel with the mayor Monday. He said he was unaware that the MSC deal had been added to to the county committee meeting agenda at the last minute.
“The Levine Cava administration is well aware of residents’ concerns of what additional port expansion will bring to local air quality and resilience in the county,” he said. “There was once again opportunity to show that the cruise capital of the world is taking environmental challenges seriously, and once again they failed to do so.”
Construction on the MSC terminal project, the largest of the five new cruise terminals, was originally slated to begin in October. Miami-Dade County and MSC scrapped their previous agreement after the COVID-19 pandemic hit and re-drafted the deal approved by the county committee Tuesday. In addition to the $177,200,000 county-incurred construction costs, the county will pay MSC $183.8 million over the first 30 years of the deal in dockage fees from the third cruise berth to be used by another cruise line. Disney is considering securing its spot at that berth, according to documents filed with the commission.
The original agreement included a spot for MSC’s U.S. headquarters in the terminal. The new deal does not mention the headquarter component.
Over the course of MSC’s 62-year lease, the company will pay the county $2.03 billion in rent.
This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 4:13 PM.
