FT LAUDERDALE | Port Everglades

[mr jones]

info...

[mr jones]

Port Everglades: Design phase started on $35 million cruise terminal upgrade
by: Arlene Satchell April 2nd, 2011 | 10:53 PM


Port Everglades recently entered the design phase of an estimated $35 million cruise terminal renovation project that is slated to start in late 2012.

Four existing cruise ship terminals will be upgraded as part of an agreement brokered with Carnival Corp., last April.

Carnival plans to homeport its ships at the Broward County port where seven of its cruise line brands already sail from.

The deal calls for a minimum of 25.5 million Carnival-brand cruise passengers to sail to and from Port Everglades within the next 15 years, port officials said in release.

About $500,000 million in port revenue is expected from the increased cruise passenger traffic.

Once renovations are complete, the terminals will be able to process embarking and disembarking guests at the same time. They will also have two passenger loading bridges, separate and larger baggage areas, enhanced ground transportation sections and up-to-date energy-efficient technology.

The first terminal is expected to be completed in spring 2013.

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/south-...minal-upgrade/

[Miami High Rise]

Thank you for starting a thread on Port Everglades. After all it has basically surpassed Miami in every way, for now.

I don't think Port of Miami has a thread but it has a Port Tunnel thread.

Could someone provide me a graph of annual port traffic over the last few decades or daily traffic for either port?
I know POM went up for a long time, went down in the 90's and is now, slowly, coming back. It seems pretty dead to me. It's closed at night. Went there Saturday day and it was barren.

25 MILLION passengers in the next 15 years from just Carnival?!! Hello new cruise capital of the world. At least it's still in South Florida.

[DShoost88]

Originally Posted by Miami High Rise

25 MILLION passengers in the next 15 years from just Carnival?!! Hello new cruise capital of the world. At least it's still in South Florida.

That's about 1.67 million per year... not too shocking, especially because Carnival is already the largest cruise line in the world. For more comparisons, though, Royal Caribbean's 'Allure of the Seas' and 'Oasis of the Seas' bring in a combined (estimated) 600,000 visitors annually--and that's just from two ships!

I was surfing the net a while ago and saw the 5- and 20-year master plans for Port Everglades. There certainly are big changes coming to Port Everglades, and cruise ship traffic is the least of it.

[Miami High Rise]

Will dredging be a part of that plan? Because I've heard that PE is "the deepest port in FL" which can't be true, POM is 42 and 50 is the max, only three ports in the US are 50 and Miami will be the fourth. I do not believe PE is actually over 42 feet or I would know about it. But if they do dredge then POM will have NO advantage whatsoever...grrrrr... well at least it will be losing to another South Florida port that's only a stone's throw away. Also the port being on it's own island helps a little, it'll have the inland hub and the tunnel will make it interstate right up to the loading ramp practically. I've never been around PE too much but it can't be quite as simple as POM, esp after the tunnel.

The most fair, unbaiased, comprehensive and readable source of info you will EVER find in any one place on the POM Tunnel, because it was written by me and I could care less what you think of the domain:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Miami_Tunnel

[ftlauddude]

That info should be in the POM thread Not here...

Anyways, here's some data about Port Everglades:

Port Everglades

Exotic cruise vacations and international trade are what makes Port Everglades an economic powerhouse for Broward County and one of the most diverse seaports in the United States.

Located In the heart of Greater Fort Lauderdale and the City of Hollywood, FL, Port Everglades is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world. It is a leading container port in Florida and among the most active cargo ports in the United States. And, Port Everglades is South Florida’s main seaport for receiving petroleum products including, gasoline and jet fuel. A foreign-trade zone and available office space inside the Port's secure area make Port Everglades a highly desirable business center for world trade.

The Port Everglades Department is a self-supporting Enterprise Fund of Broward County government. It does not rely on local tax dollars for operations or capital improvements.

The total value of economic activity at Port Everglades is approximately $14 billion. And, more than 140,000 Florida jobs are impacted by the Port, including nearly 10,000 people who work for companies that provide direct services to Port Everglades.

History

With a long and interesting history in South Florida, Port Everglades, originally known as Lake Mabel or Bay Mabel Harbor (part of which now is also called Hollywood Harbor), was officially established as a deep-water harbor in 1927 by the Florida State Legislature and dedicated in 1928.

Milestones That Matter
• In 1911, the Florida Board of Trade passed a resolution calling for a deepwater port to ship farmers' produce to the north and west.

• In 1913, the Fort Lauderdale Harbor Company was formed and eventually dug out the Lake Mabel Cut, opening the New River to the sea for small boats.

• In 1924, Joseph Wesley Young, founder and mayor of the city of Hollywood, bought 1,440 acres of land adjacent to the lake and created Hollywood Harbor Development Company.

• In 1926, Young helped get a $2 million harbor improvement bond measure overwhelmingly passed by voters in Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale.

• In 1927, the Florida State Legislature establishes the Broward County Port Authority.

• On Feb. 22, 1928, 85 percent of Broward County's residents gathered for a ceremony in which President Calvin Coolidge was to push a button from the White House detonating explosives to remove the rock barrier separating the harbor from the ocean. Nothing happened, but the barrier was removed shortly thereafter.

• In 1929, Fort Lauderdale dedicated its first airport. That same year, the Port project was completed and the Port obtained certificates for construction of a railway connecting the Port to the Florida East Coast Railway.

• In 1929, the ss Vogtland became the first cargo ship and first foreign-flagged vessel to enter Port Everglades.

• In 1930, Port Everglades was named through a contest conducted by several area women's groups.

• In 1931, Port Everglades welcomed United Fruit Co., as the port's first official cruise line.

• In 1931, Aeroland Oil Co. is the first petroleum company to enter into an agreement for land and pipeline easements. Belcher (Coastal Fuels), Standard Oil (Chevron) and American Oil (Amoco) follow suit.

• 1941-1943, Port Everglades is used as a military base for the U.S. Navy.

• In 1994, Port Everglades becomes an enterprise fund governed by Broward County.

• The 1940s saw a burgeoning military presence and the '50s brought cruise liners from around the world to the Port. Around that time, the Fort Lauderdale Rotary Club began greeting ships with Florida orange juice. The tradition continued for 20 years.

• 1960s: The Broward County Port Authority was renamed the Port Everglades Authority and the site of the future Southport cargo terminal was purchased.

• 1970s: The Port became the center of Florida's first Foreign-Trade Zone.

• 1980s: The Port purchased its first rail-mounted container gantry crane.

• 1990s: The Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center opened at Northport, two parking garages were completed and on November 22, 1994, Port Everglades' governance was transferred from the Port Authority to the Broward County government.

• 2000s: Port Everglades continuously breaks its own world record for handling the most cruise passengers.

• In 2001, Port Everglades dedicated a new Operations Center and Harbormaster Tower constructed atop the Midport Parking Garage. Port Everglades also celebrated its 70th cruise season hosting the world's largest collection of five star ships.

• In 2003, on February 28, port users and customers celebrated the 75th Anniversary of Port Everglades.

• In 2003, Port Everglades greeted the Queen. Cunard Line's Queen Mary 2, the world's Grandest Luxury Liner, made its first visit to mainland U.S. from England, by arriving at Port Everglades, her U.S. winter home port. At the time, it was the largest, longest, widest, and most expensive ocean liner ever built.

• In 2009, Port Everglades opened the World's Largest Cruise Terminal and home of Royal Caribbean's 5,400-passenger Oasis of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world.

Port Everglades Master Plan

The Broward County Board of County Comissioners adopted the first update to the 2006 Port Everglades Master/Vision Plan on March 1, 2011. The recently adopted plan continues the goal to expand and enhance existing facilities in the most economical and efficient manner to accommodate the revised projected growth in the cargo, cruise and petroleum industries over the next twenty years.

The updated Master/Vision Plan was prepared with the assistance of contracted consultants AECOM USA, Inc. It considers changes that have occurred regionally, nationally and internationally since 2007. Significant strategic changes from the 2006 plan included in the Master/Vision Plan include:

•Adding a new 16.5-acre on-port Upland Enhancement area related to the release of a portion of the existing 8-acre Conservation Easement that will allow the Port to create four new cargo berths in the Southport Turning Notch
•Changing from a two-phase to a single-phase approach to the Southport Turning Notch expansion and decoupling from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) Deepening and Widening program
•Refining the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Deepening and Widening program to reflect changes since 2007, which will allow the Port to deepen its channels to 50 feet from the current depth of 42 feet
•Inclusion of a passenger ferry operations with proposed destinations such as Cuba
•Modifying vessel and crane positioning in Southport due to Federal Aviation Administration object height to restrictions resulting from the close proximity of Fort Lauderdal-Hollywood International Airport
•Revised Phasing of bulkhead projects to reduce costs
•Advancing the Intermodal Container Tranfacility into the 5-year Master Plan and deferring the Crushed Rock facility to the 10-year Vision Plan
As no plan is complete without participation and contribution from the stakeholders and the public it intends to serve, the Public Outreach program for the update was developed to encourage input into the planning process from everyone interested in the Port's growth and expansion.

Numerous stakeholder meetings were held to prepare the update to the Master/Vision Plan. AECOM USA, Inc. and Port Everglades staff engaged the public as well as Port stakeholders by conduting a series of tenant, environmental stakeholders, agency meeting, stakeholder workshops, and several charrettes with the Port's business lines. A public meeting was held on August 31, 2010 to inform the public about the intended goals, planning process, and progress of Plan development, and receive input from the public. In addition, the Port Director organized "Focus Group" meetings with a representative from each of the Port's business sectors. The participants were asked to advise the Port Director on the progress and provide direction to the plan development during the past two-years. Port Everglades recognizes the impact the Port has, not only on its tenants and user, but also on the surrounding communities. Addressing and resolving issues and concerns throughout the planning process have fostered an effective working relationship and consensus between the various stakeholders' interests and the recommendations contained in the updated Master/Vision Plan.

The Port Everglades Department recognizes that the Master/Vision Plan is a living document and will continue to be updated.


http://www.porteverglades.net/about-us/

[ftlauddude]

Port Everglades Realizes Double-digit Growth in Cruise Travel through its Second Quarter


DATE: April 26, 2011
MEDIA CONTACTS: Ellen Kennedy or Maisy Alpert, Corporate & Community Relations
Port Everglades Department
PHONE: 954-468-3508 or 954-468-3505
EMAIL: ekennedy@broward.org or malpert@broward.org

Port Everglades recorded an 18.4 percent increase in multi-day cruise activity for the first six months of its fiscal year, with 2,518,445 cruise passengers embarking and debarking through the Port for the period ending March 31, 2011 compared to 2,127,835 passengers the prior year.

"These trends show the resilience of the Caribbean cruise market and the importance of the cruise industry for South Florida," says Port Everglades Director Phil Allen. "Interestingly, some of the highest ship occupancy rates are on those ships that sail year-round from Port Everglades."

These increases are being driven by the addition in late 2010 of Royal Caribbean International's second 5,400-passenger Oasis-class cruise ship, Allure of the Seas, sailing every Sunday from Port Everglades. A new long-term agreement with Carnival Corporation is also expected to bring 25.5 million cruise passengers to the Port over the next 15 years. The Carnival agreement provides for renovation of four existing cruise terminals at Port Everglades. Today, the Broward County Board of Commissioners, the governing body for Port Everglades, awarded Moss & Associates, LLC, a contract for pre-construction services.

Port Everglades is the cruise ship capital of the world with more than 3.9 million passengers expected during 2011 and more homeported cruise ships than any cruise port worldwide. Fourteen cruise lines and more than 54 cruise ships sail from the South Florida seaport including: Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Cunard Line, Discovery Cruises, Holland America Line, ISE (Semester at Sea), MSC Cruises, P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, ResidenSea, Royal Caribbean International, Silversea Cruises and Seabourn Cruises. The Port's ever-expanding fleet of cruise ships provides guests with an array of cruise vacation choices from the sunny Greater Fort Lauderdale area, Port Everglades, where the best cruise ships launch and the greatest getaways begin.

Details on the latest cruise offerings are available on the Internet at http://www.porteverglades.net.

[QuantumX]

Mr. Jones, why don't you go take some pictures?

[mr jones]

of...?

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by mr jones

of...?

Show us why Port Everglades is the cruise capital of the world. DUH!

[ftlauddude]

This looks better here...

Originally Posted by UrbanImpact

Officials Break Ground For New Overpass At Port Everglades
July 12, 2011 3:20 PM

FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) – More than fifteen years in the works, ground has finally been broken at Port Everglades for the new Eller Drive Overpass.

The $42.5 million project calls for a four lane bridge overpass on Eller Drive, which is the primary entrance to the port, to allow for a train rail access to the Southport container yard, which is the main container holding area at the port. The overpass will allow cars and trucks unrestricted travel to and from the port’s cruise and container terminals.

“It will allow cargo traffic to be directly lifted off of cargo ships, dropped on to rail cars and can go directly out to service the state,” said project administrator Ido Shimony.

Also in attendance at the ground breaking ceremony was Governor Rick Scott.


“Because of this project, traffic connections will be greatly improved between the port and I-595 and between the port and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport,” said Scott.

The project also involves the widening, realignment, and construction of service roads parallel to the overpass. The overpass will be built in two stages with a completion date of February 2013.


Another plus from the overpass and port rail line will be that it will ease traffic congestion in the area. Port officials say the F.E.C. rail yard at State Road 84 and Andrews Avenue normally causes traffic to back up. Once the port rail line is up and running, that should change.

“People will start noticing that they’re stuck in traffic a lot less when they are over on Andrews Avenue and State Road 84,” said Port Everglades spokeswoman Ellen Kennedy.

Once completed, Kennedy said the port will be the only one in the country where international and domestic freight will have access to a rail line from the same port.

“I want to commend all of our partners for working together to provide this important transportation link,” said state Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad in a statement. “These infrastructure improvements are what connect people to businesses and that’s what makes the economy go.”

Scott said with the expansion of the Port Everglades and the Port of Miami, Florida will be in a great financial position.

“We’re going to be the most important state in the country for ports. This part of the state, Miami and Fort Lauderdale, is going to do extremely well. We have the rail system, now we have the ports; it’s going to create a lot of jobs,” said Scott.

Port Everglades is the 3rd largest cruise port in the world and the 11th largest container port in America.

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/07/12...rt-everglades/

[Miami High Rise]

Once again, good for the port but still, Scott's slackjaw here amazes me.

[ftlauddude]

Eller Drive overpass, rail yard to take trucks off area roads

New bridge will extend Eller from I-595 over an FEC rail spur into Port Everglades

By Michael Turnbell, Sun Sentinel

10:51 p.m. EDT, July 12, 2011

It'll be two years in the making, but a new four-lane overpass and rail yard at Port Everglades should take up to 130,000 cargo-hauling semis and trucks off neighboring roads like South Andrews Avenue and prevent trains from blocking traffic on State Road 84, officials say.

The $42.5 million overpass will carry traffic on Eller Drive from the eastern end of Interstate 595 directly into the port.

Many of the big trucks you now see rumbling down local streets hauling goods between the Florida East Coast Railway's South Andrews Avenue rail yard and the port will go away.

And since trains will be assembled at the port instead of the Andrews Avenue yard, commuters will no longer have to put up with frustrating delays at the S.R. 84 crossing caused by trains loading and unloading.

Drivers like Thomas Harrington, of Plantation, said he once got held up by a train for more than an hour at the S.R. 84 crossing.

"After 50 minutes I was so mad I called the Fort Lauderdale Police Department," he said. "Then I got out of the car and went to others also stopped and told them to call the police. After 15 minutes more the train finally moved on south."

Traffic that enters the port's main entrance off Eller Drive or comes from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport must now contend with a confusing intersection and traffic signals at Northeast Seventh Avenue, the first intersection east of where I-595 ends.

Officials say congestion on Eller Drive would get even worse once the FEC rail spur is extended across the road into the port, halting traffic for lumbering freight trains.

When completed in late 2013, Eller Drive will rise over the intersections of Northeast Seventh and 14th avenues and above a new FEC rail spur leading to a new rail yard and new container facility.

In contrast, at the Port of Miami, the Florida Department of Transportation is building a $1 billion tunnel under Biscayne Bay to take trucks off downtown Miami streets and provide easier access to the port. Work also is under way to directly connect the FEC to the Port of Miami.

Gov. Rick Scott, who joined state and Broward County officials to break ground for the Eller Drive overpass Tuesday, said the improvements at both ports will position them to compete for a share of cargo from megaships that will be able to pass through a widened Panama Canal in 2014.

Scott said the projects aid his goal of making Florida "the shipping capital of the East Coast."

Port Director Phil Allen said the overpass construction is expected to create about 770 jobs. Work already is under way to realign the tracks and install barrier walls for road work.

The Eller Drive overpass won't eliminate all truck traffic. Trucks bound for the north area of the port likely will continue to use the entrance off S.R. 84, said project administrator Ido Shimony.

And traffic headed to and from the central or south areas will use the overpass directly from I-595. It's the local trips between the port and the Andrews Avenue rail yard that will go away, Shimony said.

Officials say the overpass also will ease cruise passenger traffic between the port and the airport. The current ramp from the airport to the port also will be elevated onto the overpass, providing speedier access for shuttles and taxis traveling between the two areas.

The project will be built in two phases. Service roads paralleling the overpass for local traffic and people heading to businesses such as the Park 'N Fly lot off Northeast Seventh Avenue will be built first, followed by the overpass.

The new configuration also will improve a confusing intersection where I-595 becomes Eller Drive at Seventh Avenue.

At least one driver in the last 11 years has been killed in a head-on collision going the wrong way on I-595 after incorrectly turning into the eastbound lanes from Seventh Avenue. As part of the new project, drivers coming from Seventh Avenue will be able to get to westbound I-595 via a new ramp.

mturnbell@tribune.com, 954-356-4155, Twitter @MikeTurnpike, Facebook at http://www.sunsentinel.com/concreteideas

[ftlauddude]

Broward County leases Port Everglades land to railroad, expects new jobs

By Brittany Wallman
Sun Sentinel

A “milestone” agreement to lease public land at Broward’s seaport to a private railroad company won the County Commission’s approval Tuesday, cementing a deal that has been years in the making.

Broward elected officials and business leaders, as well as Port Everglades and Florida East Coast railway officials, said the compact for what they call an “Intermodal Container Transfer Facility” will bring much-desired jobs and expansion of commerce in an ailing economy.

The $72.8 million plan creates a place at Port Everglades in eastern Broward County where the containers that carry goods will be put onto trains right at the port, after they are unloaded from ships. Right now, trucks must transport the containers from the ships to a much smaller railcar-loading site outside the port along Andrews Avenue.

Those trucks will no longer be mixing with local traffic, either, when the new facility opens. A railroad spur will shoot off the main line and connect with the new facility at the port.

The deal is between Broward County’s Port Everglades and the Florida East Coast Railway, and involves significant public funds. The county will lease 42.5 acres that are worth $19.7 million, a gigantic swath of land at Port Everglades, to the FEC for 30 years, with two 10-year renewal options. The FEC will invest $5 million, apply for a $30 million state loan, and get $18 million in state grants.

A separate but related project involves building a vehicle overpass leading to the port so that the trains running on the new spur can carry two layers of containers stacked one on top of the other underneath Interstate 595. That $42 million Eller Drive overpass is expected to be paid for by the state.

As Broward commissioners dug into the details of the agreement, Commissioner Stacy Ritter said their main concern “is jobs, and this brings jobs to this county.”

Port officials say 760 construction workers will be employed to build the facility, and when it is done, it will support 2,100 new jobs in the region over the long term.

Lobbyist George Platt, a member of the Broward Workshop organization of business leaders, told commissioners the business community is “behind you all the way.”

He said the county’s large construction projects, including the port rail complex, a coming runway expansion at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and the planned new Broward County Courthouse will breathe life into a job market that needs it.

“These are good jobs,” he told them. “We’re not flipping hamburgers here. These are really, really good jobs and they are going to lead to substantial increases in income.”

Supporters said the port needs to expand in order to grab a competitive edge over other U.S. seaports, so that Broward County can benefit from jobs that come with the additional business.

The key, port and railway officials say, is to target more international trade, particularly with the widening of the Panama Canal, whose expected 2014 completion will open a new, fast shipping route for large ships arriving from Asia that cannot currently use the canal.

Port officials said they are studying a $320.8 million dredging project that would be done from 2015 to 2017 to accommodate bigger ships.

Port Director Phil Allen, who will retire in January, called Tuesday’s decision a “milestone” in efforts to expand the port during the next five years. He said infrastructure projects that expand port commerce “are critical for enhancing our competitive position and sustaining our local economy.”

The Broward FEC deal would not undercut a recent decision by FEC and the Port of Miami to upgrade a freight rail spur to link the port to the FEC national rail network through its Hialeah rail yard near Miami International Airport.

That project, now in progress, is part of a major overhaul of the Port of Miami that includes a tunnel under Biscayne Bay and dredging of the port’s cargo harbor to 50 feet to accommodate giant container ships after the Panama Canal’s widening is completed.

FEC executives said Tuesday that their company backs these port upgrades because it is bullish on global trade.

“FEC is optimistic on the intermodal segment for South Florida and our financial commitments to both Port Everglades and the Port of Miami reflect that,” said Husein Cumber, FEC’s executive vice president for corporate development.

“The assets being built through public-private partnerships at both ports will give FEC and the ports the ability to market unique services to ocean carriers and beneficial cargo owners.”

“Beneficial cargo owners” refers to so-called big box retailers such as Target, Walmart and Best Buy that use ocean carriers to move freight throughout the world.

“These infrastructure investments will ensure that the South Florida region has the port and rail infrastructure in place to compete with other parts of the country,” Cumber added.

El Nuevo Herald Staff Writer Alfonso Chardy contributed to this report.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/2...#ixzz1VxSIdnYQ

[1772]

It's nice that PE is growing but dont think y'all ever be beating POM.

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by 1772

It's nice that PE is growing but dont think y'all ever be beating POM.

I thought it already was the new Cruise Capital of the World with Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas. I was hoping Mr. Jones would get us some photos of all that stuff.

[Miami High Rise]

You can't get in to Port Lauderdale without a valid reason and it's not visible from a main road. But yes, they are very large. One time I accidentally went down the road to it that doesn't have a u-turn before the gate, and they took my license while I did a u-turn beyond the gate.

http://malcolmoliver.files.wordpress...11/allure2.jpg

[UrbanImpact]

^ 17st Causeway is a main road and has a great view of Port Everglades at the bridge over the inter-coastal .

[Aceventura]

Yeah I was going over the bridge a couple of months ago and saw a U.S. Navy LHD in port, they are pretty substantial but it looked incredibly tiny parked next to the Allure of the Seas. Unfortunately I did not have time to stop and take pictures.

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by Aceventura

Yeah I was going over the bridge a couple of months ago and saw a U.S. Navy LHD in port, they are pretty substantial but it looked incredibly tiny parked next to the Allure of the Seas. Unfortunately I did not have time to stop and take pictures.

Unfortunately, I have not had time to go up there. Somebody, please take pictures!