Oct 13, 2017
Galveston port cruising to the top
GALVESTON – Port of Galveston still ranks as the No. 4 busiest port by cruise embarkations for 2016, according to the “Contribution of the International Cruise Industry to the U.S....
GALVESTON – Port of Galveston still ranks as the No. 4 busiest port by cruise embarkations for 2016, according to the “Contribution of the International Cruise Industry to the U.S. Economy in 2016” report which was released Oct. 4, 2017.
Galveston’s total embarkations jumped 35.4 percent since 2014 to 869,000 in 2016.
Galveston’s increase was partly attributed to—and more than offset—the Port of Houston exiting the cruise business in spring 2016, according to CLIA’s report.
Earlier in 2017, Carnival Cruise Line announced it would move its newest ship to Galveston in September 2018.
In 2014, Miami-based Royal Caribbean Ltd. agreed to bring more cruises and a bigger ship to Galveston in exchange for the port investing millions to expand.
As part of the deal, Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas—the largest cruise ship ever to sail from Texas—arrived in Galveston in November 2015.
Last month, the Port of Galveston received a $1 million grant through the 2017 Port Security Grant Program.
In December, the port held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its cruise terminal expansion project.
The project, announced in January 2014, expanded terminal 2 by about 60,000 sf, bringing it to 150,000 sf.
It also increased the number of seats from 500 to 2,000 and added 16 more check-in booths.
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