Phil Allen News

Port Everglades’ 14 percent growth in containerized cargo during the first six months of calendar year 2011 is nearly twice the national average of 7.1 percent for all U.S. seaports, based on the latest Journal of Commerce PIERS Port Ranking Report. “Port Everglades is climbing back to its pre-2007 cargo levels, before the downturn in the global economy,” said Port Everglades Director Phil Allen. Containerized cargo volumes at Port Everglades increased 14 percent from 292,673 TEUs during the period of January to June 2010 to 333,546 TEUs during the same time period in 2011. Nationally, TEUs increased from 13,611,797 during the first half of 2010 to 14,571,482 in 2011. A TEU is a 20-foot equivalent unit, a shipping industry measurement term for a standard 20-foot container.

Port Everglades experienced a third quarter of double-digit growth in containerized cargo over the same time period last year, which officials believe is a positive sign of economic recovery in South Florida. Container cargo throughput in TEUs, or "20-foot equivalent units," which is the cargo industry's standard container measurement, increased 10.6 percent during the third quarter of the fiscal year, April through June 2011, compared to the same period last year. For the first nine months of the Port's fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, TEUs totaled 674,675, up 12.1 percent, up from the 601,771 TEUs the previous year. While remaining lower than the number of TEUs over the same period three years ago (FY 2008) when Port Everglades reached an all-time high in container traffic…

A mega-size cargo ship, the largest container cargo ship in the history of Port Everglades, arrived in South Florida this morning carrying cargo from Northern Europe to South Florida. Mediterranean Shipping Company's MSC Maeva - a 1,066-foot-long, 140-foot wide, 89,954-gross-registered-ton containerized cargo ship - is the first of three ships in its class that will carry cargo to and from Port Everglades as part of a weekly ocean shipping service. Previously, the largest container ships to call at Port Everglades were from an MSC vessel class of 997 feet long and 73,819 gross registered tons.

Crowley Liner Services is expanding at Port Everglades with a new 10-year terminal lease that calls for additional acreage and increased container guarantees. "Crowley Liner Services is a success story for the Southport area, which was expanded in 1997 when Broward County purchased additional acreage for container handling," said Port Everglades Director Phil Allen. The terms of the new lease call for increasing Crowley's terminal from 68.2 to 80 acres. Guaranteed container moves will begin at 110…

Chilean line Compañίa Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV) started its first vehicle carrier service at Broward County's Port Everglades. CSAV's new Pure Car Carrier (PCC)/Pure Truck Carrier service sails every other week from Port Everglades using Florida International Terminal, LLC, (FIT) for cargo handling. "This is the second new shipping service that CSAV has started at Port Everglades this year. This signals a positive boost to the trade in South Florida," said Port Everglades Director Phil Allen.

On Feb. 5, Port Everglades and SeaFreight Line celebrated the 100th voyage of the MV Stadt Rendsburg from the South Florida seaport. Built in 2004, the 1,100-TEU containerized cargo vessel has spent its entire working career home-ported at Port Everglades and sailing every three weeks to Jamaica, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Venezuela, Panama, Trinidad and Jacksonville, Fla. “We congratulate SeaFreight on the MV Stadt Rendsburg’s 100th voyage to Port Everglades and a successful business model that generated nearly 75,000 TEUs at Port Everglades this past year,” said Port Director Phil Allen.

What is claimed to be the largest cruise terminal in the world officially opened at Port Everglades on Friday, November 6, one week prior to the arrival of Royal Caribbean International's 5,400-passenger Oasis of the Seas. Local county and city officials, as well as Royal Caribbean executives, were on hand for the opening celebration. The event also featured Royal Caribbean dancers, who performed a number from the Hairspray musical. “We finished building Cruise Terminal 18 on time and under budget, which is a demonstration of government at its best,” said Port Everglades Director Phil Allen.

Port Everglades received a certificate of occupancy for the new Cruise Terminal 18, two weeks before the official grand opening on November 6 and in time to test the building's functionality before welcoming Royal Caribbean International's 5,400-passenger Oasis of the Seas. The City of Hollywood awarded the certificate to the Port on Friday, October 23, which is earlier than anticipated and will give Royal Caribbean the opportunity to test the terminal operationally with the 2,250-passenger Enchantment of the Seas. The Broward County Public Works Department's Seaport Construction Division managed the completion of this $75m project in 22 months.

Port Everglades got the "green light" from the Broward County Commission to begin exploring the possibility of installing shore-side power, commonly called "cold ironing," at the new Cruise Terminal 18, which will be the year-round homeport terminal for Royal Caribbean International's Oasis-class ships. If deemed fiscally and operationally feasible, Port Everglades will become the first seaport on the East Coast of the to install cold ironing. Cold ironing allows a ship to shut off its engines and operate with shore-side electrical power from Florida Power & Light (FPL) as opposed to burning diesel fuel while the ship is docked in the port. Cruise ships need power even while docked to run all onboard systems such as air conditioning and lighting.