Cruise Ship Surge Study
By Scott Fenical
Port Canaveral’s central location on Florida’s Atlantic coast offers access to major markets for products such as petroleum, cement, citrus fruit and juices, gypsum board and newsprint, as well as autos, trucks and heavy equipment. The port’s proximity to Orlando makes for a bustling tourism and cruise industry. With the historical presence of the US Coast Guard, military and commercial space launch organizations with ship-borne aerospace traffic, the US and Royal Navy missile test programs, and the Military Sealift Command’s ocean transportation services, Port Canaveral hosts a wide range of large vessels.
As the size of cruise ships has grown, outbound transits, in particular during stronger winds, generate surge effects within the harbor that have proven problematic for vessels at berth. As part of the Canaveral Harbor Integrated Section 203 Navigation Study sponsored by the Canaveral Port Authority (CPA), vessel-induced surge modeling was performed to provide an assessment of passing vessel hydrodynamic effects and forces on berthed vessels within the port, and potential changes following the proposed channel widening and deepening project.... (Read Full Article)
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