Port Everglades

At the crossroads of North-South and East-West trade, Port Everglades is one of the nation’s leading container ports, handling nearly one million TEUs annually and serving as a gateway to Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia. Already Florida’s leading export seaport and among the 12 busiest U.S. container ports for international trade, Port Everglades efficiently handles a diverse spectrum of cargos with cost-competitive services provided by multiple terminal operators. Port Everglades’ users have long enjoyed the benefits of such attributes as:

• A 24/7 customer-oriented service philosophy
• Location at the center of the second-most populous urban area in the Southeastern United States
• The shortest and straightest entrance channel on the Atlantic coast south of Virginia
• Direct access and just two green lights to the Interstate highway system
• Proximity to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
• The country’s top exporting Foreign-Trade Zone
• U.S. Department of Commerce Export Assistance Center located in the Port Administration Building
• A long-standing commitment to maintaining the highest level of global maritime security standards.

Ongoing capital improvements and expansion ensure that Port Everglades can continue to handle future growth in container traffic. As part of the Port Everglades 20-year Master/Vision Plan, the Port is moving forward on three critical cargo expansion projects that are projected to create 7,000 new jobs regionally and support more than 135,000 jobs statewide over the next 15 years. These key expansion projects are expected to be completed over the next five years and will add five berths, widen and deepen the channel to 50 feet, and add a new, state-of-the-art on-port rail yard to the Port’s already impressive list of assets.

Port Everglades and the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) recently broke ground for a new 42.5-acre near-dock Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF) that will facilitate containerized cargo transfer through the Port to/from the FEC main line by mid-2014. The $53 million state-of-the-art facility will be unique compared to similar facilities at other ports in that both domestic and international cargo will be handled at the site, which will result in the advantageous transfer for Port Everglades customers and local companies.

Port Everglades is adding five new cargo berths in its Southport Turning Notch extension project, which will lengthen the existing deep-water turn-around area for cargo ships from 900 feet to 2,400 feet at the current depth of 42 feet. A critical part of the Southport Turning Notch extension includes replacing 8.7 acres of an existing mangrove conservation easement with a 16.5-acre upland enhancement of approximately 70,000 new mangroves, plants and seeds as well as completing a number of environmental improvements in West Lake Park. The project is currently in the design phase and construction is scheduled for completion in 2017.

Port Everglades is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to widen and deepen its channel to 50 feet from its existing 42 feet to better accommodate Post-Panamax ships, which are already coming to the port lightly loaded. The total cost is estimated to be $320 million, including a $131 million investment by the Port.

As Port Everglades advances its major infrastructure projects and steps up in-person interface with customers locally and throughout the world, Port customers can anticipate benefiting from such developments as the Panama Canal expansion and new U.S. free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. With a plan for the future and a world-class cargo handling facility, Port Everglades is South Florida’s powerhouse port.

Port Everglades
1850 Eller Drive
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
954-523-3404
Toll-free: 1-800-421-0188
Portevergladescargo@broward.org
Porteverglades.net