Cruise terminal on track for November opening


Galveston Wharves will celebrate the opening of the port’s fourth cruise terminal in November as they welcome MSC Cruises’ MSC Seascape for the first sailing from its new Galveston home. The terminal will also be home to Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings ships.

The project entails transforming two existing cargo buildings into a 160,000-square-foot cruise terminal. A newly constructed two-story vertical core, with elevators, escalators, stairs, and a passenger ramp, will seamlessly connect the structures.

Passengers will access cruise ships via a new concourse leading to two passenger boarding bridges (PBBs) custom-built by ADELTE.

The cruise complex also includes the port’s first newly built, on-site parking garage. The seven-story precast concrete garage will provide more than 1,600 spaces. A dedicated ground transportation area under the garage will accommodate buses, shuttles, rideshare vehicles, and taxis.

The 25.5-acre cruise complex also encompasses new paved surface parking lots totaling 733 spaces, landscaping, a public plaza, and roadway upgrades.

Orion Marine Services is upgrading marine infrastructure to support a 5,500-passenger cruise vessel, including new mooring foundations, bollards, and fenders.

Construction Progress

Hensel Phelps, Terminal 16 project construction manager, has provided pre-construction and construction services on other major projects at the port, including the newly constructed Cruise Terminal 10 for Royal Caribbean and major renovations at Terminal 25, home to Carnival Cruise Line.

Hensel Phelps’ Terminal 16 work began in July 2024 and is projected to be completed in September. Concrete foundations were finished in December 2024, air conditioning units installed in March 2025, and electrical generators installed in April. Work also included new roofs on both buildings.

Erection of the parking garage began in December 2024 and will be completed by the end of April. Hensel Phelps shaved months off the construction schedule by building the garage with precast concrete, which was initially designed as a cast-in-place structure.

Hensel Phelps worked with the architect and structural engineer to redesign the parking garage as a pre-cast concrete structure, saving money and time.

Between now and July, major milestones include placing topping slabs at the garage, bringing permanent power online, and completing elevator installations.

To date, Hensel Phelps has employed 825 craft workers and logged 185,000 work hours without a lost-time injury. At peak, 275 construction workers will be on-site.

Their hardworking port Engineering staff is coordinating and overseeing this project, along with five major construction projects to expand the West Port Cargo Complex.