Canaveral rushes to prepare Disney's port

[crazy4wdw]

From the Orlando Sentinel:

Canaveral rushes to prepare Disney's port; next generation Carnival ship coming next fall

posted by Jason Garcia on Apr 24, 2008 7:42:08 AM

Unable to find financing in a chaotic bond market, Port Canaveral will take the unusual step of borrowing directly from a bank to pay for $32 million worth of construction upgrades needed to accommodate Disney Cruise Line.

Commissioners for the Brevard County seaport agreed Wednesday to solicit bids from banks that will give the port a 15-year loan to finance widespread construction that includes extending a pier, adding terminal space and building a parking garage.

Staffers said they were unable to find affordable rates through usual channels in the bond market, which is still roiling from the collapse of the subprime-mortgage business.

Waiting for the bond market to settle is not an option, port executives said. Canaveral's new, 15-year contract with Disney requires that all construction be completed by Oct. 1, 2010 -- only a few months before the first of Disney's two new mega-ships is expected to arrive at the port. A construction timetable presented Wednesday showed that port officials don't expect to finish expanding Disney Cruise Line's terminal until September 2010.

Disney is not the only company with plans to bring bigger ships to Canaveral: The port announced Wednesday that Miami-based Carnival Corp. has agreed to station the new Carnival Dream there beginning in October 2009.

The 3,652-passenger ship, the first in a new class of vessels, will become the largest ship in Carnival Cruise Lines' fleet when it arrives.