The Canaveral Port Authority has marked the start of a new project to expand the port’s cargo facilities to keep up with volume growth and future opportunities. A ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 25 marked the official start of a $48 million project to rebuild Port Canaveral’s North Cargo Pier 3. The Port Canaveral Freight Wharf Rehabilitation and Modernization Project is an important part of the port’s capital investment plan to ensure the port’s competitive position.

“This berth project is critical to expanding our capabilities to accommodate a growing and highly diversified portfolio of cargo businesses,” said Port Director and CEO Captain John Murray. “After a few tough years, it’s great to be back and once again build our future on a solid foundation of current activities and a broad horizon of new opportunities.”

Built in 1976, North Cargo Berth 3 has been out of service since 2014. The original design of the over-water pier, combined with the growing size of today’s commercial vessels and the growing diversity of port cargoes, has made the functionally obsolete wharf.

It will be replaced by an 880-foot-long multi-purpose wharf that provides the channel width needed to simultaneously accommodate larger vessels alongside. When completed in April 2023, North Cargo Berth 3 will accommodate vessels up to 984 feet long and up to 135 feet wide.

Demolition of the existing pier began in December 2021. In addition to removing the existing concrete berth that extended into the waterway, the bulkhead will be removed or abandoned in place and they plan to move approximately 105,500 yards cubes of dredged material when creating the new berth. .

Interviewed by a local television station, Murphy said: “We have more goods that could come here; we just don’t have the capacity and the facilities to deal with it right now. Murray previously reported that the port had a “very, very robust year in cargo business” in fiscal 2021.

Port Canaveral cargo activity set a record number with 489 cargo calls in 2020-21. Cargo revenues totaled more than $11 million, beating previous records, and remained strong at the start of the new fiscal year. Since October 2021, 160 cargo ships have passed through the port, generating $5 million in revenue.

The port has a large base of facilities enabling it to handle containers as well as breakbulk and Ro/Ro. The port also has a unique project capability for handling large items, both for the diverse local manufacturing community and for the region’s aerospace programs. The port has also expanded its oil handling facilities, reporting that nearly four million tonnes of dry and liquid bulk cargo are handled each year at Port Canaveral, including oil, aggregates, salt and slag. Last year, the port saw particularly high volumes of lumber and other construction-related products.

At its September 2021 meeting, Canaveral Port Authority Commissioners awarded a $48.07 million contract to Titusville, Florida-based RUSH Marine for the NCB3 project which also involves subcontractors. Brevard County premises, including Chrome Electric, Franklin Services of Brevard and WLS Utilities. . The Port Authority of Canaveral received a $14 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration Port Infrastructure Development Program 2019. The Florida Department of Transportation is supporting the North Cargo Berth 3 project with $33 million in state grants.