Tampa International Airport News

On November 18, 2008, Edison Chouest Offshore officials appeared before the Tampa Port Authority in an effort to secure the assignment of Tampa Bay Shipbuilding and Repair’s long-term lease agreement with the port. The authority had no objection to the transfer and, on that date, Tampa Ship, LLC was born. Chouest assumed management and operation of the yard in early December. The Tampa shipyard is a full service conversion, overhaul and repair facility that was previously owned by a group associated with Mobile, AL-based Bender Shipbuilding and Repair.

The Carnival Corp. cruise ship Tropicale returned to port last Wednesday, three days after it was crippled in the Gulf of Mexico by an engine room fire. The Tropicale left Tampa last Thursday on a four-day cruise to Key West and Cozumel, Mexico, but will now be out of service for an undetermined time. The ship, with about 1,700 passengers and crew, docked at Port Manatee near Bradenton, Fla., about 30 miles (48 km) south of its home port of Tampa. Carnival said passengers would be able to leave the ship about three hours sooner than if the Tropicale had returned to Tampa. Passengers were being bused back to the port of Tampa or Tampa International Airport to catch flights home.