Port Everglades growth plan gets OK

Port Everglades received unanimous approval on its 20-Year Master/Vision Plan Update from the Broward County Board of County Commissioners last week.

The Port Everglades Master/Vision Plan, updated from 2014, is a comprehensive blueprint for 5, 10 and 20 years of development and capital improvements.

“This 20-Year Master/Vision Plan update is comprehensive and strategically paves the way for future growth and progress at Port Everglades. Cruise, cargo and fuel operations generate billions of dollars of economic activity and creates thousands of jobs and personal income. It also offers tremendous opportunities for small businesses to grow and prosper here in Broward County and throughout the world. The Port remains very successful, even in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. This Master/Vision update keeps us moving forward, even in the face of adversity. The future is very promising at Port Everglades,” said Broward County Mayor Dale V.C. Holness.

The Master/Vision Plan is a roadmap that has steered Port Everglades to becoming the third largest cruise port in the world, one of the nation’s largest containerized cargo ports and South Florida’s main hub for gasoline and jet fuel.

The Port Everglades Master/Vision Plan updates and identifies 50 projects, of which nearly half will be completed or underway in the next five to 10 years.

Highlights include:

• The Southport Turning Notch Extension, already under construction, will lengthen the current ship turn-around area from 900 feet to 2400 feet to add new cargo berths and crane rail infrastructure. This is the largest construction project in the Port’s history at $471 million;
• In addition to three new Super Post-Panamax container cranes currently being manufactured, and due to be delivered and operational by the end of this year, the Port has an option to buy three more of the same cranes;
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Harbor Navigation Improvement Project to deepen and widen the channels received Congressional Authorization in December 2016. In February 2020, the first phase of the project was included in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers FY2020 Work Plan to receive $29.1 million in federal funding to widen the Intracoastal Waterway and reconfigure the U.S. Coast Guard station east of its current location;
• Slip 1 is being widened to accommodate larger oil tankers, etc.