Sol Shipping expands Port Everglades operations

Port Everglades projects that the expanded agreement with produce importer Sol Shipping will generate $1.6 million in lease revenue and $4.3 million in maritime-related revenue for the port during the lease term.    Florida-based produce importer Sol Shipping Services, which has operated a five-acre marine terminal at Port Everglades the past five years, has signed a new five-year lease on a 6.54-acre marine terminal and is guaranteed to move to a 7-acre site in June 2018, the port revealed Dec. 13.
   The new agreement, which the Broward County Commission approved Dec. 12, projects Sol will generate $1.6 million in lease revenue and $4.3 million in maritime-related revenue for the port during the lease term.
   Sol has been moving cargo through Port Everglades since 1993 and has operated its own 5.34-acre at the port since 2012.
   The port says that Sol’s operations, which primarily consist of shipping melons from Central America to South Florida, are estimated to support 246 direct, induced and indirect jobs in the Broward County area, with a total annual wage and salary income impact of more than $16.3 million.
   In addition to the value of the cargo, the port says that local businesses will receive over $22 million in sales revenue from providing services for the ocean cargo activity. That activity, guaranteeing at least 16,000 container moves annually, is also expected to generate nearly $1.7 million in state and local tax revenue.
   “We are delighted to renew our partnership with Port Everglades,” Sol Director Enda Walsh said. “The port is very important to us and has been very supportive to us over the past years as our business constantly grew. We look forward to many more years of working together.”