Royal Caribbean seeks new terminal in Miami

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has started negotiations aimed
at building a new $100 million terminal at Port Miami that would accommodate
Oasis-class ships.

Specifications call for a 170,000-square-foot terminal with
a berth of 400 meters, or about 1,312 feet. Oasis of the Seas is 1,186 feet
long.

The specifications are in a memorandum of understanding to
be considered by the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners on Sept. 16. If
approved, the memorandum would become a roadmap for a final negotiation. The
memorandum said the terminal is “assumed to become operational” by the end of
2018.

“By the nature of a memorandum of understanding, there is
still a long road to go,” said Rob Zeiger, Royal Caribbean’s vice president of
communications.

Royal Caribbean currently docks at Terminal G at the port, the
closest one to downtown Miami. The new terminal would be built partly on a
cargo area in the easternmost part of the port furthest from downtown.
Designated Terminal A, it would be developed and owned by Royal Caribbean except
for a small contribution from the county.

The agreement, which would last for a minimum of 20 years,
calls for Royal Caribbean to pay an initial rent on leasing the land beneath
the terminal for $9.5 million a year, or about $250 million over the life of
the agreement, after annual escalators. The lease would have four 10-year
optional extensions. A summary of the memorandum calls it a new model for
financing terminals at the port.

“This deal structure is extremely attractive to the port because
it transfers risk from the county to a private company,” said the summary,
signed by Jack Osterholt, deputy county mayor.

The memorandum said that ever since Miami lost the
deployment of Oasis and Allure of the Seas to Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades
in 2009, the port has been talking with Royal Caribbean about ways to boost the
number of passengers. Currently, that number is about 730,000 a year.