Seatrade Cruise News is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Summer sailings, short cruises lift Port Everglades to +4m pax moves

Anne Kalosh
Short cruises on ships like Caribbean Princess helped boost numbers
Passenger moves at Port Everglades topped 4m in fiscal year 2014, with a record 3.88m multi-day moves and 121,321 daily moves, according to preliminary fiscal year statistics. Port officials attributed the increase to more summer cruises and more four- and five-night itineraries.

It has been a record fiscal year for the port, with $153m in revenue, 1m TEUs and 4m passenger moves.

'These are terrific milestones. The key now is to continue moving forward with our infrastructure plans since we know that ships are only getting larger and facility needs are greater,' said Port Everglades chief executive and port director Steven Cernak.

The South Florida cruise port, consistently ranked among the top three in the world, also bested the 4m mark in 2004 with 4,075,406 passengers, but with fewer multi-day passengers at 2,675,296. In 2004, several ships were diverted to Port Everglades from other ports that suffered hurricane damages.

The port’s 20-Year Master/Vision Plan estimates reaching 5.6m cruise passenger moves by 2033. The cruise industry accounts for more than 5,000 direct jobs and nearly $1.7bn in annual economic activity.

Eight cruise lines, one ferry and more than 40 cruise ships sail from the facility, which last week hosted the inaugural festivities for Regal Princess.