It’s been an extra chaotic Friday afternoon at the busiest cruise port in the world.
At approximately 5:45 p.m. local time on the evening of September 20, 2024, a container within the Port of Miami burst into flames for unknown reasons. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Cellphone videos of the blaze, many of which were captured by guests onboard Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas as the Oasis-class ship embarked from the port, show black smoke and the container fully engulfed in flames.
Thankfully, first responders arrived on the scene quickly and were able to put the fire out quickly. Cruise operations were not impacted – including for MSC Magnifica and Carnival Conquest, which were also in the port – and no one was hurt.
The busy port, which is located on Dodge Island in Biscayne Bay, will likely still have some damage to address. However, it appears the docks and cruise terminals were not touched by the flames – even if things did get a bit close for comfort.
As of the time of publication, PortMiami has not released any official statement about the incident or the potential damage.
In the videos taken by onlookers, the fire seemed to be particularly close to MSC Cruises’ new terminal – which is the tenth for the busy port.
MSC Group has already invested around $350 million in the creation of what will be the largest cruise terminal in North America once completed.
The massive facilities have been under construction since 2022 and are nearly complete, with the terminal expected to open before the end of 2024. Fire damage this close to completion would have been devastating, and fortunately, didn’t occur.
It Could Have Been Worse
Thankfully, the fire was put out nearly as quickly as it began – with minimal damage reported to the surrounding areas within the cruise port. But as the busiest cruise port in the world, the consequences of the situation could have been dire.
More than 22 cruise lines currently call on PortMiami with 55 ships – including Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Silversea Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, Holland America Line, and Princess Cruises, among others.
The port welcomes over seven million cruise guests each year across its soon-to-be-ten state-of-the-art cruise terminals – with a record-breaking 7,299,294 cruisers passing through the port in 2023.
Interestingly, this also wasn’t the first incident this year to threaten the Florida-based port’s operations. On February 23, 2024, a seaplane actually crashed in PortMiami.
A single-engine Cessna 208 seaplane overturned while attempting to land at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island at the west end of the cruise port’s main channel – with the partially submerged plane coming to a halt near the cruise ship terminals at around 1:40 p.m.
Thankfully, first responders from the Miami-Dade Police Harbor Patrol were able to intervene quickly and successfully evacuated all seven passengers aboard. Miraculously, no injuries were reported.
Read Also: Miami Cruise Port Guide: Terminals, Transportation and More
This was another close call where no cruise ships were impacted, aside from dealing with a bit more port traffic surrounding the crash site.
All five ships in the port that day, which included Freedom of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas, Norwegian Pearl, MSC Magnifica, and Carnival Conquest, were able to embark on their scheduled sailings without delay.
