FLORIDA: CHANNELING GLOBAL SUCCESS
Business opportunities in and around Port Everglades are expanding with the construction of two warehouses that will offer distribution and logistics services. Seagis Property Group is completing a 199,624-square-foot speculative development just outside Port Everglades’ security entrance, allowing for prompt entry to the seaport’s cargo terminals, Port Everglades International Logistics Center (PEILC), and Florida East Coast Railway’s near-dock facility. Bridge Industrial is building another warehouse within one mile of the port’s entrance. It anticipates completing its 171,983-square-foot speculative logistics facility in the first half of 2024. The CenterPoint Port Everglades International Logistics Center (ILC), a public-private partnership with the port, has efficient, contemporary warehousing within two buildings on 16.657 acres of port property. The ILC contains warehouse, refrigerated warehouse and office space, and cross-docking facilities to support services available to Port Everglades shippers. The entire logistics center is designated as a Foreign Trade Zone. The port continues to be a magnet for new businesses. Always striving to modernize its facilities to maximize productivity, Port Everglades follows an aggressive, comprehensive master/vision plan that is updated every two to four years to reanalyze market trends, changes in the cruise, cargo shipping and energy industries, local planning initiatives, and evolving technology. This in-depth analysis provides a projective and substantiated market- driven and environmentally sound phased roadmap for guiding cost-feasible capital investments. Strategic Expansion While it would be understandable if Florida’s government and industry leaders were to pursue a strategy of doing more of the same things they’ve always done to put the state at the top, the reality is far from that. The state is “purposely expanding
Port Everglades is South Florida’s main seaport for receiving petroleum products. The port’s cargo mix includes containers, refrigerated cargo, new and used automobiles and trucks, dry and liquid bulk, breakbulk, project, and roll on/roll off.
place in the global economy—all of which send an encouraging message to logistics professionals. Among key priorities: • Reaffirm the statewide priority for trade, logistics, and manufacturing. • Establish a statewide, focused manufacturing initiative. • Close essential workforce gaps and strengthen the talent pipeline. • Continue to strengthen trade gateways and corridors. • Establish a comprehensive site development program with emphasis on rural areas. • Continue redesigning Florida’s economic development toolkit. • Leverage rural economic development to double the percentage of GDP from rural Florida. “The trade and logistics industry is quickly evolving, and the strength and well-being of Florida’s manufacturing economy is inextricably connected to its success,” says Kevin Carr, CEO of FloridaMakes, a statewide, industry-led public-private partnership with the sole mission of strengthening and advancing Florida’s economy by improving the productivity and technological performance of its manufacturing sector. From the depths of its deep-water ports like Port Everglades to the heights accessed by its 20 commercial airports and three spaceports, Florida is a logistics hot spot that just keeps getting hotter. n
manufacturing, logistics, and rural economic growth” in a quest to grow the state to the 10th largest global economy by 2030, says Mark Wilson, president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Foundation. Following the strategic direction of the “Florida 2030 Blueprint’s Six Pillars Framework,” the chamber has conducted follow-up research that aims to secure Florida’s infrastructure for growth and development. Called the “Florida Trade & Logistics 2030 Study,” the report highlights the importance of trade, logistics, export-oriented manufacturing, and rural economic development. Seizing Opportunity The Florida Chamber Foundation encourages the state’s businesses, economic-development groups, local chambers of commerce, and lawmakers to leverage the study to inform policy and economic strategies over the next decade to ensure Florida remains globally competitive and continues to move the needle on its economic growth. The focus on manufacturing, logistics, and trade is “a rallying cry, not of an industry but for the future of Florida,” says Wilson. He wants Floridians to think globally about the state’s economic future. “We have a generational opportunity to get this right,” he says. The 2030 study features a series of strategies and recommendations to seize Florida’s opportunity to grow its
54 Inbound Logistics • August 2023
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