‘Forever change the Miami skyline’: MSC building largest cruise hub in North America

MSC cruises and Miami-Dade County officials Thursday finally started building what will be North America’s largest cruise terminal.

The terminal will cover 490,000 square feet, have berths for three mega ships and room to move 36,000 cruise passengers a day.

Two of the berths will belong to MSC, while the third will belong to Miami-Dade to support large cruise ships from other cruise lines. MSC, Europe’s largest cruise line, said it expects the terminal to be completed by the end of 2023.

In April 2019, when the Miami-Dade commission approved construction of the terminal, MSC agreed to a 50-year lease on the port land that includes free rent for the first year and $8 million in infrastructure from the county. The company will pay $15.2 million for the second year, and then 3% more each year until year 31, when the rent will be renegotiated. MSC is responsible for any dredging and will pay the county $6.19 a passenger for every passenger exceeding 2.5 million in a single year.

The Swiss cruise line is expanding in North America. Their new mega cruise ship, the MSC Seashore, which can handle 5,900 passengers, is based in PortMiami. The company is set to deliver a second ship, the MSC Seascape, to its Miami base in December. The company also plans to begin operating year-round cruises from New York next year.

“This port is still the cruise capital of the world. What we’re doing here today cements that,” said Rick Sasso, the chairman of MSC Cruises USA at the groundbreaking ceremony. “This will forever change the Miami skyline.”

Miami-based Arquitectonica is the design architect and interior designer for the new terminal.

MSC Cruises is a division of the Mediterranean Shipping Company, the world’s biggest shipping line. The shipping giant began cruising in 1989.

The European cruise line faces stiff competition in the region. Miami-based global cruising leaders Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean already have strong brands with large fleets and their own terminals in South Florida.

“It’s a longstanding decision to expand in the USA and MSC set its sights on growth in South Florida and the Caribbean,” said Ruben Rodriguez, president of MSC Cruises USA in an interview. “It’s a competitive market, but it’s also a growing market,” he said of increased demand for cruising before the pandemic and now that the public health crisis appears to be waning.

“We compete by being the brand with European character, having a very modern fleet of ships and having a commitment to sustainability,” he said, pointing out that unlike some of his competitors who have private islands in the Bahamas with huge theme parks, MSC has a marine reserve with activities like snorkeling and kayaking.

“Our deployment is a differential as well,” Rodriguez said. “We’re new in the U.S. and investing here heavily and hope American guests will want to cruise with us again in other parts of the world. We provide wide access.”

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the county is working toward sustainability goals such as installing shore power at PortMiami. It’s a technology that would allow cruise ships to turn off their engines while docked at the port and “plug in” to the shore-side power grid, rather than spewing pollution from the heavy fuel oil used to run large ships.

Miami-Dade County, utility FPL and six cruise operators, including MSC Cruises, signed a letter of intent in February 2021 saying they would implement shore power at the port, shortly after a Miami Herald story about avoidable pollution from cruise ships.

But the timeline for installing the sustainable power capabilities at all the cruise terminals at PortMiami has been vague. In March 2021, the county announced that Carnival’s cruise terminal would have shore power by October 2023.

Rodriguez said MSC was “planning” to open the terminal just underway with shore power and that their new ships support it, but pointed out that to do that depends on the county delivering the green technology.

This story was originally published March 10, 2022 at 6:53 PM.