Susan SalisburyThe prospect that growth means bigger cruise ships worries Palm Beachers.
Bigger cruise ships could bring in more money to the Port of Palm Beach, and a $43 million project to attract and accommodate the vessels is in its early stages.
But opponents of the work the Port Commission approved Sept. 24, including Palm Beach residents, are alarmed that enhancements could drive increased vessel traffic, flooding risks, additional light pollution, noise and harm to manatees and seagrass. Snorkelers, kayakers and recreational boaters drawn to nearby Peanut Island could also be at higher risk, they say.
Port Executive Director Michael Meekins said the proposed project will bring critical improvements for future cruise growth.
The market would welcome additional cruises, he told Stet News.
Although the plan does not propose widening or deepening the Lake Worth Inlet, town of Palm Beach officials and residents say they fear that a quest for longer ships will lead to both.
Cargo dominates the port
The 165-acre port in Riviera Beach is Florida’s fourth-largest container ship port.
It processes more than 2.5 million tons of cargo and $14 billion in commodities annually. Tropical Shipping, its largest tenant, ships cargo and freight to and from the Caribbean and the Bahamas.
Food is its primary export commodity, and almost 80% of goods passing through it are exported.
The port and its more than 30 tenants employ more than 3,800 people.
The port has not levied property taxes on port district property owners since 1975. It generates its own revenue and reinvests back into its operations, assets and maintenance.
The only cruise ship based at the port, the 1,680-passenger Margaritaville at Sea Paradise, is 723 feet long, the largest vessel ever based at the port. It handles more than 300,000 passengers a year, offering two- to five-night cruises to Key West, the Bahamas, Mexico and the Caribbean.
The Lake Worth Inlet, also known as the Palm Beach Inlet, connects the northern part of the Lake Worth Lagoon to the Atlantic Ocean. It serves as the entrance channel and navigation path for the port. Palm Beach is on the inlet’s south side, and Palm Beach Shores on Singer Island is on the north side.
Maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers, the channel and basin require annual maintenance dredging to keep the passage safe for ships. A $20 million dredging project completed in May pumped and piped sand from Palm Beach Harbor at the port’s entrance and from offshore to Palm Beach’s beaches.
What’s in the project
The port is seeking competitive bids for the expansion project, which Meekins said would be paid for with port and government money.
The proposal calls for physical plant improvements, all of them on the port’s land, including:
- Expanding and modernizing the cruise terminal that opened in 2002.
- Constructing a 1,100-space parking garage and improving self-parking operations.
- Purchasing a new passenger loading bridge and gangway system.
- Increasing screening capacity and the baggage area.
- Adding mooring structures to accommodate longer ships.
Port Commission Chair Blair Ciklin, who won reelection in August and has served on the commission for nearly 50 years, said Viking Cruises could one day offer excursions from the port.
“Our goal is to bring more cruise passengers to Palm Beach County and the city of Riviera Beach, creating greater economic benefits to our community,” Ciklin said. “By expanding our cruise offerings, we have the opportunity to encourage longer stays, support local restaurants and businesses and continue to contribute to the growth of tourism.”
During an August candidate forum, Ciklin said he would be meeting that month in Miami with an interested cruise ship operator.
The Peanut Island effect
Peanut Island, created in 1918 from dredging for the port, is now a county park. It sits to the east of the port, and blocks a wider channel. In 2018, port commissioners floated the idea of cutting off the southern 10 feet of Peanut Island to ease the difficulty ship pilots have navigating the 300-foot-wide channel.
The idea was dropped.
Peanut Island and the waters around it are frequented by boaters, scuba divers, kayakers, paddleboarders, locals and tourists. More could be coming. The county plans to reopen the historic John F. Kennedy Bunker, built as a safe haven during his presidency, and upgrade surrounding buildings if a $280 million parks bond wins voter approval on Nov. 3.
“The Peanut Island crowd is getting bigger,” said Palm Beach resident W. Bradford Gary, a close observer of the port who has opposed any channel or basin changes for years.
In 2014, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deemed the inlet insufficient for today’s ships.
About that same time, port officials proposed an $88 million project to widen and deepen the channel. That plan died after years of opposition when Congress did not pay for it.
Palm Beach Town Manager Kirk Blouin said Wednesday that the port’s plan does not rule out dredging a deeper channel, and the town is remaining vigilant. The town anticipates closely monitoring the port’s plans and participating in public comment, regulatory reviews and intergovernmental discussions,
“Past proposals to deepen and widen the channel have raised significant concerns from the mayor and town council. Additionally, the consultant the port hired during previous planning efforts was not receptive to the town’s input and was less than transparent in its engagement,” Blouin said.
“Palm Beach’s position is grounded in longstanding protections for the ecological health of Lake Worth Lagoon, the stability of our shoreline and the well‑being of residents living closest to port activity,” Blouin said.
He said that deepening or widening the inlet could create unacceptable environmental impacts — including harm to coral, seagrass and marine wildlife — and increase the town’s vulnerability to storm surge and flooding. The town also objects to larger commercial vessels navigating closer to residential areas and the added noise, light and air‑quality impacts already experienced by people on the north end of Palm Beach.
At Tuesday’s Palm Beach Town Council meeting, Mayor Danielle Moore, President Pro-tem Lew Crampton and Council Member Julie Araskog all expressed concern about the port’s project.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District spokesman John Paul Rebello confirmed Wednesday that there is no deepening project in the works for the port’s harbor.
“The biggest concern is whether accommodating larger ships will eventually lead to pressure to widen and deepen the channel,” Lisa Interlandi, an attorney and policy director of The Everglades Law Center, said. “Peanut Island is truly one of the most special areas in the county.”
View from the captain’s bridge
As a captain of the Palm Beach Harbor Pilots since 2004, Reid Hansen knows the basin and channel better than just about anyone. He attended the hearings years ago in Washington on the $88 million widening proposal.
“There was a large panel of senior officials and high-ranking military personnel present, seemingly all in agreement for this to get done,” Hansen recalled, but Palm Beach residents opposed the project. “Now the costs would be much greater.”
“In my opinion, the port is well overdue for a widening of the turn at Beacon No. 8, the narrowest part of the channel, and an appropriate corresponding deepening of the channel, basin and slips,” Hansen said.
Neither the channel nor the basin has been expanded since 1967.
“People do not realize how stringent the environmental standards are on cargo and cruise ships. Having cruise ships available at the Port of Palm Beach has been a welcomed amenity to the county in the form of leisure, opportunity and job creation. It is also a significant factor in the port’s success,” Hansen said.
Hansen contends that warnings of floods and severe environmental damage are inaccurate. The current proposal is not an expansion but improvements to landside buildings, and the work is possibly years away.
“Shipping is the most environmentally friendly way to move freight in the world, even more so than trains,” Hansen said.
“Commissioners are here to enable the port to grow and be viable with the ever-changing shipping trends and routes. That is their job. A port that does not grow to match the growing size of ships does not survive,” Hansen said.
Cruises help drive port revenue
For the port, the proposal is about economics and creating a better experience for cruisers. The Margaritaville at Sea Paradise is its single largest revenue source. Cruise activity makes up 32% of the port’s total gross revenue of $25.6 million a year.
“The current terminal was originally designed to accommodate a ferry-type service, and today’s cruise operators have outgrown several aspects of the terminal,” Meekins said. “Today, we have limited baggage laydown space, limited passenger screening capacity and seating and insufficient parking space.”
Those challenges limit the port’s ability to pursue additional cruise lines operating both small and large vessels, Meekins said.
The U.S. Coast Guard and the port’s regulations restrict cargo ships to 650 feet in length or less, and the lighter-weight cruise ships to just over 700 feet.
But Gary worries that the limits will be changed.
“They want to bring in more ships and longer ships, and 700 feet is not very long anymore. Big ships are closer to 1,000 feet. You need additional dock space to bring in a 1,000-foot ship.”
Meekins said that a ship’s length is not the only factor that determines whether it is suitable to come into the port. Other factors include its weight, its draft (how deep it sits in the water) and how advanced its navigation system is.
“The harbor pilots approve vessels based on controls and maneuverability and not just the size of the vessel,” Meekins said.
The Paradise is approaching the latter portion of its expected service life, Meekins said, and the port needs to position itself for the future.
A Viking Cruise ship, the 344-foot Sea Dream II, completed a roundtrip from the port in April. The 745-foot Viking Mars has a cruise scheduled out of the Port of Palm Beach in December.
Meekins, who has been the port’s executive director since 2023, previously served as its business development director for three years.
During his tenure as executive director at Port Canaveral, cruise business increased. Canaveral is now the world’s busiest cruise port and home to seven major cruise lines.
As port leaders seek to advance their improvement plans, Palm Beachers and environmentalists are watching.
“The town of Palm Beach remains committed to protecting our coastal environment, preserving resident quality of life and ensuring that any regional infrastructure planning respects the unique character and needs of our community,” Blouin said.
The Everglades Center’s Interlandi said, “Bigger is not better if it destroys the amazing thing we have.”
Residents of the port district, which runs through central Palm Beach County, can vote Nov. 3 in the Group 5 commission race between incumbent Deandre Poole and Republican Ted Sarandis.
