Virgin wants to build a cruise terminal in the Port of Miami
The tourist company plans to build a terminal in the Port of Miami in 2019 for its Virgin Voyages cruise division, which has announced that its ships will make a stopover in Cuba starting in 2020.
It is planned that the construction of the 9,300 square meter terminal, located in the western part of the port, where today an old ferry installation is erected, will begin in 2019 and be completed before the end of 2020, local economic media reported.
The plans were announced following a meeting held on Wednesday between Virgin owner, British billionaire Richard Branson, and Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Giménez and other city officials.
For the project to go ahead, the approval of the commissioners (councilors) of Miami-Dade County, who will vote a memorandum of understanding on December 4, is necessary.
Miami has become a “very important place for us,” Branson told local channels after the meeting.
“By building a new cruise terminal in Port Miami, Virgin Voyages is demonstrating its confidence in our thriving community, which is not only the cruise capital of the world, but also the gateway to the Americas,” Giménez said.
For the Port of Miami, located in Vizcaya Bay and dedicated to both cargo and cruises, they spend an average of almost four million passengers a year and more than nine million tons of goods.
In November of last year, Virgin Voyages announced that in 2020 it will land in Havana with its ship “Scarlet Lady”, which is under construction in an Italian shipyard.
The Architectural Studio of Miami presented to the press a terminal that recreates the shapes of palm trees typical of Miami, with a glass facade that is stormy.
Virgin recently announced an alliance with private rail company Brightline, which operates a passenger train between Miami and West Palm Beach, and plans to extend that line to Orlando, the city of theme parks.
In addition, the two companies intend to connect the city of Tampa (west coast of Florida) with Orlando by means of a high-speed train, a project of 1,700 million dollars that received on Wednesday the initial approval of the Florida authorities. (EFEUSA) .-
