Parking Garage News

The America’s Marine Highways Program is one of several grant programs administered by the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) to promote more effective use of the nation’s navigable waterways. This particular program was established by Congress in 2007 to provide grants for projects that would promote water-borne alternatives to available landside transportation services, especially for freight carried by trucks.Consistent with this specific goal, the program’s statutory authority…

In early 2021, the somber news from the cruise sector continued. For some cruise brands, their own version of “lockdowns” will have spanned an entire year. By late January, 2021, Carnival and others were hesitantly pegging their restarts for April/May 2021, and for some markets, late summer, under a Conditional Sail Order promulgated late last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).What else to do but look ahead?In preliminary earnings guidance, Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL)…

Florida's Canaveral Port Authority has awarded a $108.5m contract to Ivey’s Construction for building its new Cruise Terminal 3 project.The contract agreement has been approved by the Canaveral Port Authority Board of Commissioners.Ivey’s was the low bidder to build a two-story, 188,000-square-foot terminal as part of the Port’s largest single construction project in its 65-year history – a $163 million complex that will become the homeport for Carnival Cruise Line’s biggest and largest cruise ship, the Mardi Gras, when finished in May 2020.“We're creating a world-class cruise terminal, and with these contract awards, the project is mobilizing and moving ahead,” stated Port CEO Captain John Murray.

Miami-Dade County has given the green light for construction to begin on the sleek new terminal for Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) terminal, designed by Miami-based architecture firm Bermello Ajamil & Partners. The county will invest up to USD 100mln to build 166,000-square-foot terminal at PortMiami, augmented by funds coming from Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. Commissioners also agreed to advance project costs not to exceed an additional $65m. The terminal will be able to accommodate ships with up to 5,000 passengers, feature indoor and outdoor waiting areas, faster embarkation and disembarkation technology, expedited security screening and include a new parking garage, a valet area and lounge.

Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku Shipyard delivered the state-of-the-art LNG fast ferry Megastar to owner Tallink on January 24. The newly built ferry will begin plying the Helsinki-Tallinn route on January 29 as the most technologically advanced fast ferry in the Baltic Sea. The 212-meter-long Megastar uses liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel, but is also able to run on marine diesel. With LNG, the vessel will create no sulphur or soot particles and decreasing the nitrogen and CO2 emissions.

After undergoing a $48.38 million transformation in order to handle larger and modern ships, Cruise Terminal 5 opened this past weekend hosting the Carnival Valor. The improvements include an expanded terminal, a longer 120-foot longer pier, a new 1,044-space parking garage, and new mobile passenger boarding bridges. Carnival Sunshine also will berth at Terminal 5. Renovation of the 1991-built terminal began in August to allow Cruise Terminal 5 to handle ships carrying up to 3500 passengers, up from its previous capacity of 2500.

ADELTE, a provider of Seaport Passenger Boarding Bridges (SPBBs) and Global Services to cruise and ferry terminals, has been awarded two contracts by the Canaveral Port Authority to design, manufacture and install four custom-made HYDRA models SPBBs at Cruise Terminals 5 and 10. Port Canaveral was named the “Best North American Homeport” in 2015 by Cruise Critic and is the world’s second-largest cruise port by number of passengers, receiving 3.9 million passengers in 2015, behind Miami’s 4.8 million passengers.

Port of New Orleans cruise terminals handled more than 1-million passengers in 2015, totaling 1,023,700, up 1 percent compared to 2014. The total marks the fifth consecutive record year and with new and larger ships on tap for 2016, Port officials expect another robust cruise season. “Year-end numbers illustrate how popular the Port and the City of New Orleans are with cruise passengers throughout the nation,” said Gary LaGrange, Port President and CEO. Miami, Fla-based Carnival Cruise Line is increasing capacity on its year-round four- and five-day itineraries by 34 percent in April when the Carnival Triumph replaces the Carnival Elation in New Orleans. Also, Guilford, CT-based American Cruise Line will add a third riverboat named America to its home-ported fleet in New Orleans.

New Orleans builds enviable cruise traffic on top of a carefully crafted business plan. It may surprise you to learn that, on the lower Mississippi River, cruise traffic now accounts for over one fifth of all revenue at the Port of New Orleans, a major cargo hub. With recently modernized terminals, able to handle big ships, the Crescent City last year accommodated over a million cruise passengers, setting its fourth straight record. How they did it is perhaps more impressive than what they have created…

Former Port of New Orleans Cruise and Tourism Director Robert Jumonville received the 2015 American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) Cruise Award yesterday during the AAPA biennial Cruise Seminar in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The AAPA cited Jumonville as being the vision behind the phenomenal growth of the Port of New Orleans’ cruise passenger business and its terminal and cruise-related visitor assets. Under Jumonville’s watch, the Port of New Orleans invested more than $75 million in cruise facilities and saw a 1,200-percent rise in passenger throughput. Revenue produced by the Cruise and Tourism Division increased more than 500 percent during his tenure. In 2014, the Port handled more than 1 million cruise passengers for the first time in its history.

Port industry veteran Don Allee will assume control of the Port’s Cruise and Tourism Division in January, following the retirement of current Director J. Robert Jumonville. Jumonville, who will retire in January after 25 years at the Port, oversaw the planning and construction of all three Julia St. Cruise Terminals, including the present consolidation of the two terminals into one modern terminal completed in 2011. Jumonville was also instrumental in the design and construction of the Erato Street Cruise Terminal and Parking Garage Complex…

Port Everglades is planning for the year 2033 with an updated roadmap for future growth over the next 20 years that identifies $1.6 billion in capital investments to improve productivity for cargo, cruise and petroleum businesses that operate at the South Florida seaport. The Broward County Board of County Commissioners, which governs the Port as a self-funded enterprise fund, approved the Port Everglades 2014 Master/Vision Plan today during its regularly scheduled meeting. Over the past year, Port staff and maritime consultant AECOM Technical Services, Inc. held more than 20 meetings with customers, stakeholders and the general public to develop the Plan. “This is the second update to the original Master/Vision Plan that was adopted in 2006.

Irving Shipbuilding announced $28.2 million in additional contract awards to Canadian-based suppliers as part of the Halifax Shipyard Modernization Program, a two-year engineering and construction investment to prepare the company’s facilities to build Canada's future combatant ships. “To date a total value of $175 million in contracts have been awarded as part of our overall investment of approximately $300 million in the Halifax Shipyard Modernization Program” said Kevin McCoy, President, Irving Shipbuilding.

Huntington Ingalls Industries has announced that its Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division has officially opened its new Apprentice School, located at 3101 Washington Ave. in downtown Newport News. Apprentices, faculty and staff were joined by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, U.S. Reps. Bobby Scott and Rob Wittman, Virginia Delegate Chris Jones, Newport News Mayor McKinley Price, HII President and CEO Mike Petters, NNS President Matt Mulherin, Armada Hoffler Holding Co. President and CEO Lou Haddad…

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Dan Tangherlini has officially opened the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Consolidated Headquarters campus with a ceremonial ribbon cutting at the newly built U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters building. The opening of the new facility marks the completion of the first phase of the consolidation project on St. Elizabeths west campus. “Today, we take a major step forward in making our ‘One DHS’ vision a reality,” said Secretary Napolitano. “We are proud to provide the U.S. Coast Guard with a facility that will support the important work they do for the American people,” said GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini.

Huntington Ingalls Industries announce that its Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division broke ground on the shipyard's new Apprentice School campus. Apprentice School students, faculty and staff were joined by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, U.S. Reps. Scott Rigell, Bobby Scott and Rob Wittman, Newport News Mayor McKinley Price, HII leadership and other business and community leaders  at the construction site for a ceremonial ground-breaking event. Armada Hoffler, the City of Newport News…

Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will open Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 218 in New Orleans today at 9 a.m. CST at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome with brief remarks. The sale, held by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), has attracted 241 bids submitted by 20 companies on 191 tracts offshore Texas, compared to 189 bids submitted by 27 companies on 162 tracts during the previous Western Gulf Lease sale in August 2009. Blocks are located in federal waters from nine to more than 250 miles offshore, in water depths of about 16 feet (five meters) to more than 10,975 feet (3,346 meters). BOEM estimates that this sale could result in production of approximately 222 to 423 million barrels of oil and 1.49 to 2.65 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Huntington Ingalls Industries will celebrate the 92nd anniversary of its Newport News Shipbuilding Apprentice School on July1. The school has grown from three instructors and 126 apprentices in 1919 to more than 100 faculty and 750 apprentices today. The Apprentice School is expected to award its 10,000th diploma later this year. "The Apprentice School is essentially our shipbuilding production leadership academy," said Matt Mulherin, president, Newport News Shipbuilding. "Workforce development is critical to our business.

On Tuesday, September 11, New Yorkers — and the world — were jolted into a day of terror and tragedy as two commercial jetliners plowed into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center, leaving more than 6,000 missing persons. Seamen's Church Institute (SCI), a perennial source of strength and support for the International maritime community, went into action immediately, setting up a 24-hour relief effort that, over the course of the days following, has served as a safe haven for rescue workers, New York City police officers, firefighters and members of the Army National Guard. With its 175-year tradition of responding to mariners in need…

Without much fanfare, VT Halter Marine, Gulfport, Miss. is completing a number of very large and capable vessels for both commercial and U. S. Government interests. The company seems on track with the objectives set last year by CEO Boyd E. "Butch" King to add additional projects to their two shipyards located in the Pascagoula, Miss. area. For example, the company will christen the Oscar Dyson October 17. This is a very unique Fisheries Survey Vessel for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a Federal Government agency. The vessel is 208 ft. long with a 49-ft. beam and a relatively deep 28-ft. hull that has a maximum draft of 19 ft.. The Oscar Dyson has a steel, ice-classed hull with an aluminum deckhouse and is anticipated to run at 14 knots.

It was supposed to be the world's largest artificial coral reef for scuba diving, located off the coast of Key Largo. More than eight years ago, a group of divers from the area devised a plan to sink a 510-ft. (155.4-m) retired Dock Landing Ship (LSD) to the bottom of 130 ft (39.6 m). of water. For the next several years, Spiegel Grove became Key Largo Chamber of Commerce's pet project. With various local dive shops, businesses and dedicated individuals participating in this venture, the vessel, which had been decommissioned in 1989, was towed last June from the James River Reserve Fleet, to a shipyard in Portsmouth, Va., so that workers could ready the vessel for its intentional sinking.

Carnival Cruise Lines and the Port of New Orleans announced a new two-year contract retroactive to October 2006, with the option to renew the deal for an additional two-year period, which could keep the world’s largest cruise line sailing regularly from the Crescent City through 2010. Under the terms of the contract, the 2,056-passenger Carnival Fantasy, which replaced the Carnival Sensation in October of 2006, will make a minimum of 70 calls per year to the Port of New Orleans’ new $37 million Erato Street Cruise Terminal and Parking Garage. The ship sails four- and five-day cruises to the Western Caribbean year-round, with port calls in Cozumel and Costa Maya. Carnival also plans to hold its quarterly meeting of national sales managers on Sept.

Located along the mid coast of the Northeast U.S., New London, Conn. has long been a center for ferry transportation dating back to the early days of passenger travel via sailing schooner, steamship and rail ferries. New London's naturally sheltered, deep water harbor allowed it to develop into a major marine travel hub and established it as a major stopping point between the metropolitan areas of New York City and Boston. Confronted by an ever-growing population, an increase in highway congestion and related pollution from emissions, and continued reliance on automobile travel, New London, with its unique geographic location and accessibility to multiple modes of transport, finds itself in the transportation forefront once again.