Port Everglades grows TEU volumes 5% in FY2015

Port Everglades retained its spot as the top container port in Florida, but PortMiami has closed the gap with a 15 percent jump in volumes to 1 million TEUs during the same 12-month period.    Container volumes at Port Everglades in South Florida grew 5 percent to a record 1.06 million TEUs  for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, according to preliminary figures released Thursday.
   The Broward County port authority credited the increase to new and expanded cargo services and the first full operational year of the Florida East Coast Railway’s intermodal container transfer facility at the port.
   The FECR said it recorded a 26 percent increase in volume during its first year on port property compared with the volumes it handled at a small facility in the middle of Fort Lauderdale that required inefficient truck moves to and from the port.
   The 43-acre facility resulted from a public-private partnership between the FECR, Broward County and the state of Florida. A $43 million overpass enables trains to get in and out of the port without blocking traffic.
   Several terminal operators at Port Everglades experienced TEU increases in the past fiscal year, including Crowley, Florida International Terminal, Hyde Shipping, King Ocean, Mediterranean Shipping Company (Port Everglades Terminal) and SeaFreight.
  Produce importer Ayco Farms began operating a five-acre terminal at the port and has a weekly service to import melons from Central America from May through November, the port authority said.
  Recently, ocean carriers SeaLand and APL’s North American Express Service (NAE/ACX) began service to Latin America, which is expected to generate an additional 20,000-TEU increase in the next fiscal year. Port Everglades is the first and last U.S. call for this weekly, year-round liner service.
   Port Everglades retained its spot as the top container port in Florida, but PortMiami has closed the gap with a 15 percent jump in volume to 1 million TEUs during the same 12-month period. The two ports increasingly are cooperating to build cargo business in South Florida and combined represent a 2 million-TEU per year cargo gateway.
   (The December issue of American Shipper will include a feature story on the Florida East Coast Railway and its ties to South Florida ports.)