Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport News

Broward County's Port Everglades said it is purchasing three low-profile Super Post Panamax container-handling gantry cranes at $13.8 million each to meet demands from current customers and new services anticipated from the port's multi-million-dollar expansion program. The Broward County Board of County Commissioners approved the $41.4 million crane purchase today, with an option for the seaport to purchase an additional three cranes anytime within five years of placing the order for the first three cranes. "Cargo ships are getting larger and several shipping lines already coming to Port Everglades from Europe and South America need Super Post-Panamax cranes now.

Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group today announced the acquisition of Lauderdale Marine Center (LMC), the nation's largest yacht repair facility in terms of the number of large vessels it can haul and service. Equity for the transaction comes from Carlyle Realty Partners VII, a U.S. real estate investment fund. "In partnership with the outstanding management team and staff at LMC, we will build upon LMC's success through growth and continued innovation and superb customer service," said Thad Paul, Managing Director at The Carlyle Group. Located in Fort Lauderdale on the New River, visible from I-95 and close to Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport, LMC is a 50-acre facility consisting of a boatyard, marina and marine service center.

On the heels of the announcement that the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia will go into effect in May, Port Everglades and  the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport hosted a delegation of public officials from Colombia to discuss international trade and visit Broward County's seaport. Port Everglades is the top seaport in Florida for trade with Colombia, which totaled more than $1 billion in FY 2011, representing 54 percent of Colombian trade through all of Florida's seaports last year.

Broward County’s Port Everglades is experiencing record cruise passenger growth in 2004 and just nine months into the current fiscal year already surpassed 2003’s total number of passengers. Just one month later, the South Florida cruise port powered past its all-time annual high mark, which was set in 2002. By the end of this year, Port Everglades expects to top the four million annual passenger milestone for the first time. “Broward County has become the hub of the cruise industry and this year’s phenomenal passenger growth demonstrates that Port Everglades’ appeal continues to grow,” said Ken Krauter, Port Director. In June, just nine months into the current fiscal year, Port Everglades hosted 3,409,116 cruise passengers, surpassing last year’s 12-month total of 3,375,671 passengers.

Cruise travel from Broward County's Port Everglades increased by 13.5 percent this past fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2001 through Sept. 30, 2002), greatly contributing to the Port's overall $9.7 million increase in operating revenue. A record 3.5 million passengers sailed to and from Port Everglades in the past fiscal year representing a 12.9 percent increase over the previous year. Cruise revenue increased by 26 percent from $20.4 million in FY2001 to $25.6 million. The greatest increases came from multi-day cruises with the number of passengers increasing 24.9 percent from 2.0 million in FY2001 to 2.5 million in FY2002. Single-day cruises decreased by 7 percent from 1.1 million passengers in FY2001 to 1.0 million passengers in FY2002.