Many of the most reputable and largest cruise companies in the world have offices in or near Miami.
In November 2019, it was announced Port Miami will be remaking the city’s skyline for $1.5 billion, one cruise terminal at a time, with five new cruise terminals coming to the port by 2022.
With a combination of public and private dollars, Miami-Dade County is betting on the cruise industry in a big way. Mayor Carlos Gimenez said about $6 billion of Miami-Dade’s economy comes from the cruise industry, a number that is likely to grow given the investment in new port infrastructure and in the ever-increasing fleet of ships.
In 2019, 6.8 million people cruised from Port Miami, a 66% increase since 2009, according to county statistics.
Although cruises are increasingly popular, they raise environmental concerns as their heavy and growing use of fossil fuels means someone on a seven-day cruise produces the same amount of emissions as they would during 18 days on land. And they can damage fragile ocean ecosystems, due to practices like irresponsible disposal of sewage.
In March 2019, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) announced the advance in sustainability on the seas, aiming to reduce the rate of carbon emissions across the industry fleet by 40 per cent by 2030.
Given Miami’s commitment to grow its presence in the cruise industry, the city could also play an important role and push the industry for more sustainability practices. Will this happen?
If you represent or are directly or indirectly linked to the cruise industry in Florida, what solutions do you adopt and what actions to do implement to ensure the sustainability of your organization? Join us in Miami in early 2020 for sustainability discussions regarding this important industry for the Sunshine State.
CSE’s Certified Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Program, Advanced Edition 2020, takes over Florida January 16-17, 2020 to help sustainability professionals rise to any occasion. This challenging two-day training offered by Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) aims to give you all the latest tools and resources required to implement or upscale existing sustainability initiatives taking place in your organization.