Posted on May 7, 2025
Florida’s Port Canaveral is planning to invest at least $500 million over five years for upgrades to cargo berths, maintenance facilities, and cruise ship infrastructure.
According to a May 1 release from the port, the shipping hub — situated just south of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center — will look to renovate its pier structures to create new multipurpose berth spaces and improve vessel turn times. The port also plans to make upgrades to its seawall, improve road access to ease congestion for drayage trucks, and add a third mobile harbor crane.
“There are thousands of individuals and businesses who rely on the port for their livelihood,” said Port Canaveral CEO Capt. John Murray. “These port-wide investments are designed to leverage the port’s success to benefit communities from the Space Coast to Central Florida, and throughout the state.”
Port Canaveral operates as a major hub for Florida’s cruise ship industry, as well as for SpaceX and Blue Origin, which rely on the port to offload and transport recovered launch vehicle components. Roughly 84% of the port’s operating revenue for the first six months of the 2025 fiscal year came from cruise operations, totaling $112 million between October 2024 and March 2025. Port Canaveral is also planning to expand its capacity at Cruise Terminal 5 by 65%, upgrade Cruise Terminal 10 so that it can accommodate the world’s largest cruise ships, and make improvements to canopies, walkways, landscaping and lighting at Cruise Terminal 1.
