The Port of Miami, styled as PortMiami and formally known as the Dante B. Fascell Port of Miami, is a major seaport located in Biscayne Bay at the mouth of the Miami River in Miami, Florida. It is the largest passenger port in the world and one of the largest cargo ports in the United States.
The port is located on Dodge, Lummus and Sam's Islands, which is the combination of three historic islands (Dodge, Lummus and Sam's Islands) that have since been combined into one. It is connected to Downtown Miami by Port Boulevard—a causeway over the Intracoastal Waterway—and to the neighboring Watson Island via the Port Miami Tunnel. It is named in honor of 19-term Florida Congressman Dante Fascell.
As of 2023, PortMiami accounts for approximately 334,500 jobs and has an annual economic revenue of $43 billion to the state of Florida.
History In the early 1900s, Government Cut was dredged along with a new channel to what now is known as Bicentennial Park in downtown Miami. This new access to the mainland created the Main Channel which greatly improved the shipping access to the new port. From these original dredging spoils which were disposed on the south side of the new Main Channel, new islands were inadvertently created which later became Dodge, Lummus and Sam's Island along with several other smaller islands.
PortMiami's improved shipping access and growth of the South Florida community led to an expansion of the port. On April 5, 1960, Resolution No. 4830, "Joint Resolution Providing for Construction of Modern Seaport Facilities at Dodge Island Site" was approved by the Dade County Board of Commissioners. On April 6, 1960, the City of Miami approved City Resolution No. 31837 to construct the new port. The new port on Dodge Island required expansion of the island by joining it together with the surrounding islands. After the seawalls, administrative buildings, and a vehicle and railroad bridge were completed, Port of Miami operations were moved to the new Dodge Island port. Additional fill material enlarged the connected Lummus and Sam's islands as well as the North, South and NOAO slips, creating a completely artificial island for PortMiami.
The port is officially named after Florida House of Representatives member Dante Fascell, who served for four decades from 1955 to 1993, and died in 1998.
In 1993, the first dredge of PortMiami occurred, deepening it to . In 2006, a $40 million project to expand the South Harbor finished. In 2011, a project to reconnect PortMiami to the mainland via railroad began. In 2013, a dredging project began to deepen the harbors around PortMiami from . In April 2019, the Miami-Dade Tourism and Ports Committee approved a deal for Royal Caribbean Cruises to build a new office and parking garage on Dodge Island.
Today Cruise ship operations
PortMiami is the busiest cruise/passenger port in the world. It accommodates major cruise lines such as Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and MSC, among others, and also serves as the homeport of the largest cruise ship in the world by gross tonnage, Icon of the Seas. Over 7.2 million cruise passengers pass through the port each year (FY2023/2024).
As of January 2026, there are ten operating passenger terminal facilities at PortMiami: AA, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, and V. Of the nine, there are three facilities that are purpose-built for a specific company, while other companies share the other terminals. Other company-specific facilities are in their planning or construction stages.
Current passenger terminals Terminal AllocationAAThis facility exclusively serves cruise lines that are part of Mediterranean Shipping Company. AThis facility exclusively serves cruise lines that are part of Royal Caribbean Group, and handles the world's largest class of cruise ships, the Icon-class ships.BThis facility exclusively serves cruise lines that are part of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. CThis facility primarily serves cruise lines that are part of MSC Cruises. DThis facility primarily serves cruise lines that are part of Carnival Corporation & plc. EThis facility primarily serves cruise lines that are part of Carnival Corporation & plc. FThis facility primarily serves Carnival Cruise Line. GThis facility primarily serves cruise lines that are part of Royal Caribbean Group. JAs PortMiami's boutique cruise terminal, it primarily serves smaller vessels and luxury cruise lines, such as Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.VThis facility exclusively serves Virgin Voyages.
Terminals and projects
On June 28, 2016, Royal Caribbean Group announced plans for a new facility that would redevelop "Terminal A" at PortMiami. It would be Royal Caribbean's homeport and be fully capable of serving larger Oasis-class ships. The terminal, dubbed the "Crown of Miami," was completed in November 2018.
On March 7, 2018, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings announced plans for a new facility that would redevelop "Terminal B" at PortMiami. It would be fully capable of serving Norwegian's largest ships, the Breakaway Plus-class ships. Norwegian originally intended to open the terminal, dubbed the "Pearl of Miami," by fall 2019, but budgeting issues and the COVID-19 pandemic postponed its opening date until August 2021, when Terminal B officially serviced its first cruise ship.
On November 28, 2018, Virgin Voyages announced plans to build a new terminal located on the northwest side of PortMiami. On September 19, 2019, Virgin Voyages finalized the $150 million contract with Miami-Dade County to begin redeveloping the area currently occupied by "Terminal H", which would be renamed "Terminal V" upon completion. This facility effectively replaced "Terminal H". Prior to August 2019, "Terminal H" was primarily occupied by FRS Caribbean, which operated a ferry service between Miami and Bimini in The Bahamas. The new terminal is designed to be the homeport for Virgin Voyages' first two vessels, the Scarlet Lady and the Valiant Lady. "Terminal V" was completed in February 2022.
On September 19, 2019, Carnival Cruise Line announced that it had received approval from Miami-Dade County for an expansion of its company's facilities at PortMiami by renovating and expanding "Terminal F", making it the company's third passenger facility at the port and the company's largest terminal in North America, at . The terminal was completed on February 14, 2023 to coincide with the debut of Carnival's second vessel, Carnival Celebration, which is currently homeported in Miami. The terminal will be operated by Carnival under a 20-year lease.
In July 2018, MSC Cruises announced plans to build "Terminal AA/AAA" for its upcoming cruise ships, a forthcoming class of cruise ship with an approximate gross tonnage of 215,800 tons. On September 19, 2019, MSC and Miami-Dade County finalized the contract to construct the new facility. The new $300 million building spans and includes two berths capable of operating simultaneously, separately named as "AA" and "AAA," and is operated by MSC under a 62-year lease. Terminal AA was opened in 2025. In September 2018, it was announced that Disney Cruise Line had entered into an agreement with Miami-Dade County to plan for a brand-new terminal, "Terminal K", on the south side of PortMiami and east of Terminal J. The inauguration of the terminal was expected to coincide with Disney's expansion into Miami with two vessels homeported at the port in the mid-2020s. The construction of the terminal would have been dependent on improvements made to the port's infrastructure that could have enabled Disney's vessels to operate on the south side of the port. Dates for groundbreaking and completion were not announced at the time of announcement. However, in July 2020, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic repercussions, PortMiami issued a new proposal that accommodates MSC's difficulties in receiving financing for the project by amending the ground lease, while also granting the port additional time to prepare the site for the project prior to turning over the premises to MSC. Additionally, in an effort to reduce costs for its expansion projects, the port issued an accompanying resolution requiring the new MSC complex to share facilities with Disney Cruise Line, and will require Miami-Dade County to establish a new berthing rights agreement with Disney Cruise Line based on the proposal (Disney later announced that it would pursue a dedicated terminal at Port Everglades). Construction of "Terminal AA/AAA" began in March 2022, and MSC Cruises officially inaugurated the terminal as "Terminal AA" on April 5, 2025. In the future, a third birth will added to operate up to three cruise ships simultaneously.
Royal Caribbean Group also announced plans to redevelop "Terminal G" at PortMiami. A larger terminal would be constructed, and would be able to accommodate larger Oasis-class and Icon-class ships. Demolition of the old terminal began in July 2025. The new terminal is expected to be completed in winter of 2027.
Container ship operations
As the "Cargo Gateway of the Americas," the port primarily handles containerized cargo with small amounts of breakbulk, vehicles and industrial equipment. It is the largest container port in the state of Florida and ninth in the United States.
Over 9.6 million tons of cargo and over (FY 2018/2019) of intermodal container traffic move through the seaport per year. The economic impact from cargo operations at PortMiami to Florida amounts to $35 billion.
As of 2021, nearly 1,000 cargo ships docked at the port. In terms of TEU, China is PortMiami's largest trade partner, while Honduras is ranked first in terms of trade value. Computers represent the port's most valuable export, while insulated wire and cable are considered the most valuable import.
Design and infrastructure The port currently operates eight passenger terminals, six gantry crane wharves, seven Ro-Ro (Roll-on-Roll-off) docks, four refrigerated yards for containers, break bulk cargo warehouses and nine gantry container handling cranes. In addition, the port tenants operate the cruise and cargo terminals which includes their cargo handling and support equipment.
To retain the port's competitive rank as a world-class port, in 1997 the port undertook a redevelopment program of over $250 million which is well underway to accommodate the changing demands of cruise vessel operators, passengers, shippers and carriers. To further resolve accessibility, the PortMiami Tunnel was constructed in 2010 and completed in 2014, providing direct vehicle access from the port to the interstate highway system via State Road 836, thereby bypassing congestion in downtown Miami.
As part of the massive PortMiami redevelopment program, new ultramodern cruise terminals, roadways and parking garages have been constructed. Additionally, a new gantry crane dock and container storage yards have been constructed along with the electrification of the gantry crane docks to include the conversion of several cranes has been completed. In addition, the Port acquired two state-of-the-art super post-panamax gantry cranes which are amongst the largest in the world; able to load and unload 22 container (8 foot wide each), or nearly 200 foot, wide mega container ships. This, along with the planned Deep Dredge Project, would make it possible for PortMiami to facilitate even the future largest containerships in the world, the Maersk Triple E Class. The new and restructured roadway system with new lighting, landscaping and signage greets visitors to the 'Cruise Capital of the World and Cargo Gateway of the Americas'. The roadways will change again with the completion of the PortMiami Tunnel. And to enhance cargo port accessibility, the newly constructed Security Gates opened at the end of 2006 to increase the processing rate for container trucks and help eliminate the daily traffic backups.
Tunnel and Deep Dredge