Port Canaveral will save millions of dollars on the building of its new cruise ship terminal via what officials call "value engineering". Canaveral Port Authority commissioners unanimously approved a number of design changes in the Cruise Terminal 3 project which will rein in the cost. Merritt Island-based Ivey's Construction Inc. won the cruise ship terminal contract in January with a bid of US$78.98M. However, US$3.89M in design changes approved on April 24, combined with US$644,755 in design changes approved in February 2019, bring the terminal's price down to US$74.45M.
In all, Cruise Terminal 3 complex project on the south side of the port will cost about US$163M, when the costs of an adjacent parking garage, waterside improvements, a couple of passenger boarding bridges, and design services are included. This is the largest building project in the 65-year history of the port.
More than US$3.5M of the savings came from the redesign in the plans for the installation of support piles for the project. Via engineering studies, it was determined the number of piles used, the size of the piles, and their coating all could be changed without sacrificing structural integrity.
The 2-story, 187,000 ft2 cruise terminal is being constructed west of Jetty Park and east of Cove restaurant area. The adjacent 6-story, 692,000 ft2 parking garage will be able to accommodate 1,800 vehicles.
Cruise Terminal 3 will be used exclusively by Carnival, including for the homeporting of fleet's newest liner - Mardi Gras. Currently, under construction in Finland, the vessel starts roundtrips from Cruise Terminal 3 in October 2020.