SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
FLORIDA TRADE AND LOGISTICS
The third most-populated state— just after California and Texas— Florida is home to 23.4 million people, a number that’ s projected to increase to 26 million by 2030. Approximately 140 million people visit the state each year, and in 2025, an estimated 300,000 people will move to the Sunshine State.
The region’ s ports and logistics businesses are poised to continue serving its growing consumer market by making strategic investments.
“ Florida offers shippers quick access to a growing consumer base with the infrastructure needed to quickly move freight throughout the Southeast and beyond,” said Mitch Luciano, CEO of Trailer Bridge, an asset-based ocean and land carrier specializing in transportation between the US mainland and the Caribbean.
“ There are 90 million consumers within a one-day truck drive from Northeast Florida,” Luciano said.“ This quick access to consumers and the fact that Florida is a consumption state with millions of tourists yearly makes it an easy choice for shippers.”
The state’ s 16-seaport system is critical to the region’ s trade infrastructure. Port Everglades, located in Broward County on the southeastern coast, is a gateway to Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia. The port has an average annual throughput of 1 million TEUs, with approximately 80 % of its goods originating or terminating within 80 miles of the port.
“ We’ ve rapidly established our port as one of Florida’ s leading seaports for containerized cargo, serving more than 150 ports in 70 countries,” said Joseph Morris, CEO and port director at Port Everglades.“ As one of the most active container ports in the US, our appeal is rooted in our strategic approach to growth, favorable location and drive for sustainable progress. We’ re on track this fiscal year to have continued, solid growth.”
Port Everglades is one of the state’ s leading container transport hubs, among the most active cargo ports in the US and one of the world’ s busiest cruise ports. It sits in a large consumer region within Dania Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood, with more than 6 million residents in an 80-mile radius.
The port provides direct access to the interstate highway system and the Florida East Coast Railway’ s near-dock, 43-acre intermodal container transfer facility, along with Foreign Trade Zone( FTZ) No. 25.
“ Through FTZ No. 25, we offer strategic advantages for importers and exporters looking to improve their operational efficiency and strengthen their bottom line,” Morris said.“ The FTZ designation can extend to any business located in Broward County, adding to the convenience of a program that can defer, reduce or eliminate Customs duties.”
Across the state, Port Tampa Bay has an economic impact of over $ 36.6 billion, supports more than 192,000 jobs in Central Florida and processes 33 million tons of cargo each year. An economic impact report published by Martin and Associates showed that, between 2023 and 2024, the number of jobs supported by port activity more than doubled and the total economic value supported by the port in the region nearly doubled.
This includes $ 4.6 billion of direct business revenue, $ 2.8 billion of respending and local consumption impact, and $ 27.2 billion of related user output. The dollar value represents the sphere of influence of marine terminals, shipyards and non-maritime real estate holdings in 2023.
“ Florida continues to grow as more people move to the state, which means more consumption is occurring, and as a result, requires more goods to meet consumer demand,” said Greg Lovelace, senior vice president of marketing and business development at Port Tampa Bay.“ Tampa’ s proximity in the middle of the state provides the most efficient means to deliver most economically.”
At Port Tampa Bay, first-quarter fiscal 2025 figures indicate continued strength in several cargo sectors, with TEUs up 4 % year over year and general cargo volumes increasing by 2 %. The port also reported notable gains in petroleum products(+ 5 %), sulfuric acid(+ 101 %) and steel products(+ 125 %), reflecting rising demand across industrial and liquid bulk categories.
Cargo tonnage and container throughput are also up at Port Everglades, with double-digit growth during the first quarter of FY2025. The port’ s total container throughput in TEUs is up 12 % to 285,335 TEUs, compared with 255,241 TEUs during the same period in 2024. Containerized cargo tonnage at Everglades climbed by 11 % to 1,750,546 tons, compared with 1,580,126 tons during the same period in 2024.
Petroleum is also trending upward, as measured by the barrels delivered to 12 www. joc. com June 2, 2025 | Journal of Commerce 43