No Sail Order Repatriation Plan

2021 NACo Achievement Award Winner

Broward County, Fla., FL

About the Program

Category: Risk and Emergency Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

The goal of the Port Everglades’ (PEV) Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) is to identify potential emergencies and to ensure that a viable capability exists to continue essential Port Everglades functions, specifically when our primary facility is either threatened or deemed inaccessible. By mid-March of 2020, the United States realized it was amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a highly contagious and potentially fatal disease caused by a novel coronavirus. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had issued a “No Sail” order for cruises, dated March 14, 2020, however, some cruise vessels remained at sea having difficulty dealing with a lack of repatriation options for passengers. Of these vessels, 27 cruise ships had either departed Port Everglades for a round trip voyage or were scheduled to end their cruises at the Port. Because Port Everglades is the winter homeport for Holland America Line, Carnival Corporation, its parent company, and the Port Everglades Unified Command developed a coordinated plan to repatriate the passengers of Holland America Lines’ ZAANDAM and ROTTERDAM cruise ships with the goal of not overburdening local resources. Though the Port’s COOP plan addressed various hypothetical situations, repatriating cruise passengers from around the world during a pandemic was not addressed. Port Everglades and the Broward County Government organization had to be innovative in coming up with a solution that was not common practice.

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