SpaceX soon could be charged more to bring its reusable rockets back to land
The Canaveral Port Authority in Florida may start charging SpaceX higher fees to dock the reusable rocket boosters that the aerospace company has been launching at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, landing at sea and then hauling to shore.
Port authority officials had planned to consider the measure Wednesday, but at the last moment, Chief Executive John Murray pulled it from the agenda. He told the board that it probably would be reintroduced.
The fees are “our source of revenue,” Murray said, though he emphasized that the “relationship is good” between the port authority and SpaceX, which is based in Hawthorne and whose full name is Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
The measure would have charged SpaceX $500 per ton or $15,000 every time it brings a rocket into dock.
The port regularly charges fees based on weight, although most are less than $10 per ton. According to the port’s fee schedule, the highest charge is $35.30 for containers with cargo in them on vessels 450 feet long or more.
A SpaceX spokesman declined to comment when asked how much the company had been paying. Murray said the port authority had a previously scheduled meeting with SpaceX on Wednesday afternoon.
“Port Canaveral is an important partner in our recovery operations,” SpaceX spokesman John Taylor said in a statement. “We appreciate the board’s willingness to reconsider this proposal.”
Canaveral Port Authority’s Rule 715, which governs tariffs placed on those using the port, would be amended to add charges for “aerospace/aircraft items.”
The port authority left the door open for negotiations with other companies as more pursue rocket recovery efforts.
On three occasions — once each in April, May and June — SpaceX has landed a reusable rocket booster on a barge floating in the Atlantic Ocean and then brought the booster back to land.
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