Port Canaveral funds first phase of plan to support commercial space companies

Funding was approved for the first phase of a Miami firm’s master plan to develop facilities for the commercial space industry at a seaport in Brevard County.

The commissioners of Port Canaveral awarded a $17.92 million contract to Tampa-based Orion Marine Construction Inc. to alter a cargo berth at the seaport to support the operations of such commercial space companies as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.

The berth project is the first phase of a master plan that Miami-based Bermello Ajamil & Partners prepared for Port Canaveral, a cruise, cargo and naval port located near the launch pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy Space Center.

Luis Ajamil, president and CEO of Bermello Ajamil & Partners, told the port commissioners in a presentation that Port Canaveral is on course to become “the first East Coast seaport to have a spaceport component.”

His firm’s master plan for Port Canaveral includes a dedicated area for commercial space companies to transfer rockets and equipment to nearby facilities, plus berth space for marine vessels that transport space-mission components.

Phase-one contractor Orion Marine is expected to start construction in March and finish by mid-2019. [Florida Today] – Mike Seemuth