CAPE CANAVERAL — Port Canaveral officials revealed Thursday a plan to turn an existing cargo berth into a new cruise terminal in 2026 that can handle the largest cruise ships in the world.

“The need now for our cruise partners is immediate,” said port CEO Capt. John Murray. “We have a point now where we’re starting to turn business away from Port Canaveral.”

The port had initially targeted construction of a seventh terminal on the south side of the port after moving several marina businesses. This new plan will convert North Cargo Berth 8 opposite Cruise Terminal 5 on the north side of the port.

Murray said the original plan turned out to be “a five- to six-year project to do it correctly.”

Working with the existing cargo terminal allows for a quick construction turnaround. It’s already deep enough to handle any cruise ship, even what will become the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas, set to call Port Canaveral home when it debuts.

“It will be a state-of-the-art terminal, will use all the latest technologies, that will handle the largest ships in the world, and it will be a multiuser facility,” Murray said. “In other words, we, Port Canaveral, will run the terminal and it won’t be cruise-line specific — so multiple brands, a big-ship terminal, gives us the flexibility to put the largest ships in there and the smaller ones at some of our older facilities that can’t handle the largest ships.”

Building what is expected to be about a 2,500-space garage and other terminal support buildings also is going to be faster because the space is already what is known as “greenfield,” meaning ready for any kind of development.

Right now, the cargo berth is basically a parking wharf, sometimes used by SpaceX recovery ships for docking, but most of the space industry will focus on the other cargo terminals farther to the east in the port, Murray said.

Port Canaveral plots timeline to take over marina for new cruise terminal

Murray said the south side plans are still something the port wants to pursue, but the cruise terminal needs by shifting to the north will alleviate the demand for now.

An eighth terminal could come online after 2030, he said, but it also allows the port to focus attention on its commercial fishing industry and reorganize the district in the coming years. So the existing announcement that the port was not going to renew the lease of Cape Marina, which it deems an underutilized space, is still going forward.

The cruise industry is its main revenue source, generating the bulk of more than $187 million projected for this fiscal year. The port had 16 cruise ships calling it home either year-round or seasonally over the last year, and expects that to grow to 19 in the next fiscal year.

A new terminal could realistically add another three, Murray said, and that would continue to grow the port’s burgeoning business that expects to see more than 7 million passenger movements this year, and continue its already record revenue totals.

Port Canaveral chalks up record month amid growing cruise demand

Next year will also see the port’s first homeported ships from Princess Cruises and Celebrity Cruises on top of the fleets already from Disney, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and MSC Cruises.

Murray said tinquiries for new ships are running into full slates not only at Port Canaveral, but also Port Everglades and Miami, while also pointing out that Tampa and Jacksonville are limited in what size ships they can take on.

“So there’s only three ports really that can take these ships in Florida and if we can’t take them, they’re going to go into another state. So it’s really important that we find a way to take that business and keep that economic impact in Florida,” he said.