The Cruise’s popularity as a vacation option is ever-increasing.  The trend has led to bigger and better ships, regularly reaching mammoth proportions to ferry eager tourists to paradise and back.

Bigger ships mean bigger ports, like Florida’s two-story, 187,500 square foot Canaveral Cruise Terminal 1. Opened to the public in December of 2014, the terminal on the south side of the harbor is able to process ships of 6,000 passengers or more, while offering retail, dining and entertainment establishments. 

In addition to challenges like passenger ease-of-use, heightened security requirements, and tight budget and schedule considerations, constructing Terminal 1 required a high-performing, efficient and eco-friendly lighting management system to keep the facility well-lit for passengers and ships while overcoming obstacles like coastal weather and the impact on marine life.

Project architects contracted engineering firm, TLC Engineering for Architecture to design, among other things, the electrical systems of Terminal 1, which had to be multi-functional to meet the demands of ships in port as well as adhere to strict wildlife regulations.

Particularly, the firm was instructed to follow the Canaveral Port Authority’s Light Management Plan, developed in conjunction with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to reduce the Port’s direct impact and cumulative glow on sea-turtle hatchlings. Disorientation from artificial lighting contributes to thousands of hatchling deaths every year in Florida, and so lighting had to be designed with this in mind while still being aesthetically pleasing and energy efficient.  

TLC Engineering turned to Luminis to help them meet these challenges. They selected the company’s newest award-winning exterior luminaire, the MayaLED to light their outdoor pavilion. Featuring an artfully-blended combination of sleek aesthetics, optical performance and energy efficiency, MayaLED fixtures provide superior lighting control and uniformity as well as stable light output ideally suited for park, urban and commercial developments for over 80,000 hours.

“We had two main challenges when lighting Terminal 1,” said Chris Van Meter, electrical designer at TLC Engineering. “We needed powerful lighting for ships in port, but we also needed custom turtle-sensitive lighting that met Fish and Wildlife requirements. Luminis gave us exactly what we needed; not only do the luminaires look great, we were able to customize them to our exact requirements.”

TLC Engineering installed 152 MayaLED MA14SH quad-mount poles in the terminal’s outdoor pavilion, as well as 14 Maya bollards to maintain a safe, well-lit area. Custom amber LED bulbs within 152 full-cutoff fixture heads provide uniform, low-level lighting to minimize the lateral light spread and uplighting that contributes to turtle hatchling survival.

Additionally, engineers were able to connect Luminis’ MayaLED luminaires directly to the Port’s site-wide lighting system, making them independently controlled from the building’s main system in order to match lighting levels with specific activities and security needs. 

Public reaction to Port Canaveral Terminal 1 has been overwhelmingly positive as the world’s biggest cruise ships continue to dock in the new location.   

“We are extremely happy with the Luminis MayaLED lighting fixtures,” said Van Meter. “We’ve also received many compliments from the Port Authority, especially in relation to meeting Fish and Wildlife requirements. Overall, I’d say the lighting in Terminal 1 is a huge success.”