Port of Palm Beach's $43 Million Plan to Draw Bigger Cruise Ships Puts Palm Beach Neighbors on Alert

The Port of Palm Beach is moving ahead with a $43 million project to expand its cruise terminal and accommodate longer ships, and the plan has put town officials, residents and environmental advocates near the Lake Worth Inlet on alert. Port commissioners voted Sept. 24 to seek competitive bids for the work at the 165-acre port in Riviera Beach, which port officials say would be paid for with port and government money.

All of the planned work is on port land, and the proposal does not call for widening or deepening the inlet. But critics in the Town of Palm Beach and beyond fear that bringing in bigger ships would eventually build pressure to do exactly that, according to reporting by Stet News published by WLRN on Oct. 20.

What the port wants to build

The project, identified as a priority in the port's 2023 master plan, would modernize a cruise terminal that opened in 2002. Port Executive Director Michael Meekins has said the current terminal was designed for ferry-type service. The plan includes:

• An expanded, modernized cruise terminal
• A 1,100-space parking garage and improved self-parking
• A new passenger loading bridge and gangway system
• More passenger screening capacity and a larger baggage area
• Mooring dolphins, freestanding structures that let longer ships tie up without building a full new dock

No construction contract has been awarded. Meekins told WPTV that design and permitting will follow the bidding process, that renderings could come in the coming months, and that construction is likely several years away. No final decision has been made on how many mooring dolphins would be installed or how far out they would sit.

Who sails from the port now

The port has a single cruise berth and one homeported ship, Margaritaville at Sea Paradise, which began sailing from Riviera Beach in 2022. The 1,680-passenger ship is the largest vessel ever based at the port and carries more than 300,000 passengers a year on two- to five-night trips to Key West, the Bahamas, Mexico and the Caribbean. It is the port's largest source of revenue, and Stet News reported it is in the later part of its expected service life.

Other lines are testing the market. Viking's 344-foot Sea Dream II completed a roundtrip from the port in April, and the 745-foot Viking Mars has a cruise scheduled there in December. Port Commission Chair Blair Ciklin said Viking could one day offer excursions from Palm Beach County. "Our goal is to bring more cruise passengers to Palm Beach County," Ciklin told WPTV.

Cruise activity accounts for about 32% of the port's $25.6 million in annual gross revenue, according to Stet News. Meekins put the share at about 30% in remarks to WPTV.

A cargo port first

The Port of Palm Beach is primarily a cargo operation. It is Florida's fourth-largest container port, handling more than 2.5 million tons of cargo and $14 billion in commodities a year, with food as its main export and Tropical Shipping as its largest tenant. It has more than 30 tenants and more than 3,800 employees, and the port district has not levied a property tax since 1975.

Coast Guard and port rules currently limit cargo ships to 650 feet and cruise ships to just over 700 feet. The port's channel and turning basin have not been expanded since 1967.

What worries the neighbors

The Town of Palm Beach, whose north end borders the inlet, is watching closely. Town Manager Kirk Blouin said the town may take part in public comment, regulatory reviews and intergovernmental talks. He noted that the 2023 master plan does not specifically propose deepening or widening the inlet, but does not rule out future dredging either. Mayor Danielle Moore, Council President Pro Tem Lew Crampton and Council Member Julie Araskog all raised concerns at a recent council meeting. Moore has said the town understands the need to upgrade the port's landside facilities but that more port traffic could hurt quality of life on the island.

The concerns raised by residents and advocates include:

• More vessel traffic and the risk to snorkelers, kayakers and boaters around Peanut Island
• Harm to manatees, seagrass, coral and other marine life
• Storm surge and flooding risks
• Light, noise and air pollution for residents on the north end of Palm Beach
• Future pressure to widen and deepen the Lake Worth Inlet

W. Bradford Gary, a longtime mariner and Palm Beach resident, has urged the town council to support limits capping ships at about 700 feet. "Big ships are closer to 1,000 feet," he said. Lisa Interlandi, an attorney and policy director at the Everglades Law Center, warned that "bigger is not better if it destroys the amazing thing we have."

Peanut Island is a particular focus. Palm Beach County plans to reopen the historic JFK bunker on the island and upgrade nearby buildings if voters approve a $280 million parks bond on Nov. 3.

The port's answer

Port officials and pilots argue the fears are overstated. Meekins said harbor pilots approve vessels based on their maneuverability and controls, not length alone, and that newer ships with advanced propulsion can be easier to handle. He said cruise ships typically arrive before beachgoers and snorkelers are out and leave around dusk.

Reid Hansen, a captain with the Palm Beach Harbor Pilots since 2004, said warnings of floods and environmental damage are inaccurate and that the current proposal is a set of landside improvements, not an expansion. Hansen also said the turn at Beacon No. 8, the narrowest point of the channel, is overdue for widening. A spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Jacksonville District confirmed that no deepening project is underway for the port's harbor.

A long history of inlet fights

Past expansion efforts have stalled. An $88 million plan to widen and deepen the channel, developed around 2014, died when Congress did not fund it. A 2018 idea to trim 10 feet from Peanut Island was dropped. Town of Palm Beach officials have said they firmly oppose any plan to widen and deepen the navigation channel.

What's next

The port will review bids before any design or permitting work begins. On Nov. 3, Palm Beach County voters will decide the parks bond that would fund Peanut Island improvements and will choose between Deandre Poole and Ted Sarandis in the Group 5 Port Commission race. The Viking Mars visit in December will offer an early look at how a ship longer than Margaritaville at Sea Paradise handles the port, and at how its neighbors react.