Florida’s leading perishables seaport also welcomed the first shipment of Colombian Hass avocados into the United States on Monday.
Port Everglades handled 1.08 million TEUs during its 2017 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, surpassing the FY2015 record by 1.5 percent and FY2016 levels by 4 percent, according to recent data from the South Florida seaport.
Just this Monday, the first shipment of Colombian Hass avocados into the United States arrived at the port, two months after the U.S. Department of Agriculture opened access for Colombia as a source for avocados. The 18-metric-ton shipment set sail from Cartagena aboard Hapag-Lloyd’s Dubai Express last Thursday. The avocados will be transported by truck from Port Everglades to Mission Produce’s distribution center in Atlanta.
“The volumes of refrigerated produce coming into Florida through Port Everglades from Central America is significant,” Port Everglades Chief Executive and Port Director Steve Cernak said. “It represents more than half of all perishable cargo that arrives in Florida by ocean.”
Port Everglades’ top trading partners for perishable produce are Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Chile, Panama and the Dominican Republic, a port spokesperson told American Shipper. Commodities moving from these trading partners include various fruits and vegetables, such as melons, papayas, bananas, grapes, avocados, dates, figs, onions, shallots, garlic, leeks and cucumbers.
Cernak said apparel, tile and beverages also rank among the port’s top commodities. He also said the port is experiencing growth in machinery and automobile parts as the number of vehicles being shipped into and out of the port also increases.
Meanwhile, Port Everglades reported that petroleum volumes for the 2017 fiscal year ticked up 1 percent from a year prior to 122.27 million barrels.
Overall, Port Everglades is frequented by 29 liner services connecting it to regions outside of North America, consisting of 25 fully cellular container services, three services deploying either roll-on/roll off vessels or pure car/truck carriers, and one multi-purpose service, according to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting’s Port Dashboard tool.
In terms of finances, operating revenues of $163 million for the 2017 fiscal year were flat compared to the prior fiscal year. As a self-supporting enterprise fund of Broward County, Fla. government, Port Everglades does not depend on local tax dollars for operations.
Back in May, Port Everglades received unanimous approval from the Broward County Board of County Commissioners to begin a $437.5 million expansion project, which involves the addition of new berths for larger cargo ships and the installation of crane rail infrastructure for new super post-Panamax cranes.
Dubbed the Southport Turning Notch Expansion Project (STNE), it will lengthen the existing deepwater turn-around area for cargo ships from approximately 900 feet to 2,400 feet. This will allow for up to five new cargo berths.
In addition, the existing gantry crane rails will be extended to the full length of the extended Turning Notch berth to utilize existing cranes, the port said.
In June, the Broward County Board of County Commissioners gave the port the green light to purchase three low-profile super post-Panamax container cranes at $13.8 million each from Shanghai-based equipment manufacturer ZPMC to meet demands from current customers and new services anticipated from the port’s expansion project, the port said.
The cranes will be able to handle containers stacked eight units high and reach out across 22 containers on a ship’s deck. Port Everglades’ existing seven gantry cranes in the Southport area, where most of the port’s containerized cargo handling occurs, are limited to containers stacked five units high and can reach out across 16 containers on a ship’s deck.
The port spokesperson told American shipper Monday there is no update on the STNE, and that it is still in the preconstruction and design phase. In regards to the three cranes, the port anticipates on ordering them by the end of the year, the spokesperson said. The port has the option to purchase an additional three cranes anytime within five years of placing the order for the first three cranes.
Port Everglades readies for expansion amid record FY2017 box volumes
