Port Everglades get first ethanol shipment

Port Everglades get first ethanol shipment Port Everglades received its first shipment of ethanol fuel Friday.
   There has been talk for some time about the potential for ethanol as a new cargo at Port Everglades and other Florida ports handling liquid bulk shipments. Port Everglades is already a major gateway for traditional petroleum products, with most of South Florida's fuel for both gas stations and airports arriving via the port. Several bulk terminal operators have been preparing to distribute alternate 'green' fuels by either building new tanks or converting existing tanks to handle ethanol.
   The talks became reality Friday when a shipment of 2.52 million gallons, which will be distributed among several petroleum terminals at the port. Like much of the incoming fuel for the port, the ethanol shipments came from domestic refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
   State officials have said that with extensive ethanol production planned in Brazil and in the Caribbean, the alternative fuel could someday become an important new product handled by Florida ports. However, there is currently a 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on foreign ethanol in place through the end of 2008, as well as a 2.5 percent customs duty.
   Domestically, however, ethanol is seen as a growth market. The Energy Bill, signed by President Bush this month, includes provisions to increase alternative fuels, with a production target of 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022.
   Port Everglades director Phillip C. Allen praised the local terminals for being ahead of the curve on ethanol.
   'We applaud the petroleum terminal operators at Port Everglades for their foresight to have infrastructure in place to handle alternative fuels, which we believe will be in much higher demand in the near future,' he said. 'Port Everglades is prepared to further support the expansion of alternative fuels as port of its Green Ports initiatives.'