PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. – Port Canaveral’s CEO delivered a State of the Port address on Wednesday, looking forward to 2022.
Capt. John Murray highlighted the struggles the port has gone through during the pandemic, calling 2020 a challenge for the cruise industry.
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“We fell off a cliff, (had) 18 months of downtime. We are coming back, though. That’s the key message here,” Murray said.
Officials said 80% of the port’s revenue comes from the cruise industry.
Murray said things are looking better going into 2022, with major cruise ships already sailing, including Carnival’s Mardi Gras and the Disney Dream.
“The outlook for cruising right now (is) we are going to grow our home-ported ships from 9 to 11. That’s a new record of vessels here at Port Canaveral,” Murray said.
Murray added that the port budgeted for 4.1 million multi-day passengers.
Murray explained that cruises continue to operate differently because of COVID-19, but he’s hoping that will eventually change in the future.
“This (COVID-19) world we are living in is still there and the way the cruise lines are operating now is different than how it was before. Hopefully, we get back to the old way,” Murray said.