From now until 2028 there’s a 13% capacity increase but nowhere near that kind of growth in destinations, according to Miguel Reyna, chief development officer, Cruise Terminals International.
‘A tremendous amount of capacity will be in the Caribbean,’ Reyna said. ‘This puts a lot of pressure on the destinations to expand.’ He added that Florida homeports are growing, with berths/terminals being added or enlarged at PortMiami, Port Canaveral (and, possibly, Port Everglades), while Galveston, Texas is also expanding.
Meanwhile, capacity utilization at homeports is also up, with ships now departing throughout the week at Port Canaveral, Port Everglades and PortMiami.
‘If all the homeport terminals along the US East Coast that serve the Bahamas/Caribbean were used at maximum capacity, there would not be enough transit ports to support the business,’ said Luis Ajamil, principal of the Miami-based planning firm Bermello Ajamil & Partners and co-moderator of ‘The New Market Fundamentals Driving the Future of Cruising.’
