(tense tonal music) (birds calling)
- [Narrator] There are few industries
that have been harder hit by the pandemic
than the cruise industry.
- Normally, these ships would be packed
with thousands of passengers and crew members.
But this particular ship is almost empty.
It's just a skeleton crew maintaining it.
- It's very, very difficult to go this long with a business
and not have any income.
- [Narrator] On March 13, 2020,
the CDC issued a no sail order for ships in American waters,
essentially placing the entire cruise industry on pause.
And that pause has been expensive.
According to a recent analysis,
last year's suspension resulted in an estimated loss
of over $32 billion in economic activity and 254,000 jobs.
But the impact of those numbers isn't just confined
to the cruise lines and their crews.
The cruise industry's crisis is also being felt
in cruise-dependent businesses, like ports.
Port Canaveral is located on Florida's Atlantic coast,
50 miles outside of Orlando.
This is Port Canaveral's brand new cruise terminal.
Last June, after four years of construction,
the $155 million terminal was finished
just in time for summer sailing season.
But to date, no passenger has ever set foot in Terminal 3.
In fact, it's now been over a year since any passengers
have set sail on a cruise ship in American waters
leaving many wondering,
when the ships finally be able to set sail again?
- I'm here at Port Canaveral's brand new Terminal 3,
which in normal times would welcome thousands of passengers
for Carnival Cruise's new ship.
But because of the pandemic there's absolutely no one here.
It's a vacant parking lot,
a huge, brand new vacant building.
Like the rest of the cruise industry in the United States,
Port Canaveral is awaiting
further instructions from Washington
as to how to safely open during the pandemic.
But despite lobbying from all of the cruise lines
and everyone else connected to the industry, like the ports,
Washington has been slow to issue guidance
as to how to restart cruises in the United States
and hasn't really given much financial aid
to places like Port Canaveral.
- This will deliver urgently needed relief
to our nation's families, workers and businesses.
- [Narrator] Last year, when airlines, hotels,
and other travel-related industries
received government assistance,
many cruise-related businesses were left out.
- We've been down, basically, for a full year,
as of this week and there's no end
to the downturn at this point.
- [Narrator] Captain John Murray
is the CEO of Port Canaveral, which before the pandemic
was the second busiest cruise port in the world.
- You know, I'd not like to even refer to it as a bailout,
it's to sustain our business operations,
sustain the strategic aspect of the seaport.
- [Narrator] Many US ports are a mix of cruise and cargo,
but at Port Canaveral,
the cruise side makes up about 80% of its revenue.
To make ends meet, the port has been surviving on cash
it had set aside for construction.
- We went from making reasonable amount of money
down to nothing overnight.
To losing money overnight.
It's been quite a shock to our system.
We'll be fine for the balance of this year,
but at some point the cash we're burning now
will eventually run out.
(dramatic tonal music)
- [Narrator] According to Murray,
every year the port generates
$2.6 billion in economic impact, 24,000 jobs,
$900 million in wages, and $74 million in tax revenue.
- This has been a tremendous impact,
had a tremendous impact on our community,
everyone that supports the cruise industry,
a lot of jobs have been sidelined.
All the longshoremen,
the folks that load and discharge the ships,
they're not doing anything right now.
And in the prior stimulus packages that have come out,
the airlines have got a vehicle to get money,
the airports, rapid transit, railroads,
everybody's had a vehicle and seaports never did.
So no seaports in the United States
have had any federal relief up to this point.
(tense tonal music) (birds calling)