Port Canaveral expects $100M budget mark
Port Canaveral could reach a financial milestone in the coming budget year.
Its projected annual revenue is expected to top $100 million for the first time ever in the budget year that begins Oct. 1.
The projected $100.03 million in revenue compares with the estimate of $95.85 million in revenue for the current budget year.
Rodger Rees, the port’s deputy executive director and chief financial officer, made that projection during the first of two Port Canaveral budget hearings on Wednesday. The final budget hearing is Sept. 28. Rees told port commissioners that reaching $100 million in revenue has been an informal goal of his: “I’m excited about it — as excited as accountants can get.”
Here more details and reactions about the port’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1:
Cruise revenue gain: Revenue from cruise ship operations is expected to increase by 8.2 percent. There will be 591 cruises by ships based at Port Canaveral and 123 port-of-call visits by ships not based there.
Leading cruise lines: About 95 percent of the cruise revenue of $59.55 million will come from four cruise lines: Royal Caribbean ($21.46 million), Carnival ($17.00 million), Disney ($12.65 million) and Norwegian ($6.00 million).
Revenue categories: Cruise ships will account for 60 percent of total revenue, followed by cruiserelated parking (18 percent), nonship revenue from such things as land leases and park operations (13 percent), cargo (8 percent) and interest income/grants (1 percent).
Cargo gains: Cargo is expected to increase by 14.1 percent, with continued growth in petroleum, granite/limestone, salt, container and auto businesses. One relatively new category on the port’s cargo chart is “space” — reflecting reusable SpaceX rocket boosters returning to port after landing on a drone ship offshore.
Leading cargo category: Petroleum and other “liquid bulk” will account for 43 percent of the $9.17 million in anticipated cargo revenue.
Profit projection: The port projects that the bottom line will show a profit of $3.06 million. That’s down from $6.27 million for the current budget year. But Rees said the current year’s figure was boosted by a one-time gain from a land sale of port-owned property in Cocoa, which contributed about $3.7 million to profits.
Cruise business development: The port will step up marketing efforts. Rees said Port Canaveral will be “aggressively going after new cruise lines and new carriers to come into the port.”
Capital budget: Port Canaveral Senior Director of Finance Pat Poston said there are $494.60 million worth of capital projects already in the works or planned for the current budget year and the next five budget years.
Biggest capital project: The biggest of the 74 projects in the proposed capital budget is a new cruise terminal, budgeted for $149.5 million. That terminal is expected to open in the fall of 2019.
Port commissioners pleased: Canaveral Port Authority Chairman Tom Weinberg said Port Canaveral’s finances are “substantially stronger than most ports around the nation.” Canaveral Port Authority Secretary/Treasurer Jerry Allender said the port’s operating revenue has more than doubled since 2010. Vice Chairman Wayne Justice complimented port management on the continued “good direction” in financial trends.