While the rest of the US economy seems to be in slow growth mode or in some sectors stagnating, work is continuing apace as a $1 billion tunnel is being dug in the Port of Miami.
The tunnel will connect Dodge Island to area highways, while this summer will bring forth the beginning of work on a new rail line which will once again connect the Port of Miami to the Hialeah Rail Yard. In the next few months the dredging of one of the port’s many channels will commence.
The director of the port, Bill Johnson explained to participants at a logistic luncheon during the annual goals conference of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce what the next steps will be in revitalizing the port.
“It’s leveraging these port improvements; it’s what we do with these billions and billions of investments,” Mr. Johnson emphasized.
In order to get the most out of these investments it will be necessary to bring in major logistic centers to South Florida, Mr. Johnson and others at the luncheon said. The enormous ships that will be passing through the revitalized Panama Canal beginning in 2014 will need a good reason to stop in the Port of Miami. It is up to us, Mr. Johnson reiterated, to give them that reason.
The port, as well as its partner Florida East Coast Railway, are about to begin a marketing campaign to attract some of the world’s largest shippers, such as Tanker Pacific, APL, and APM-Maersk to the revamped Port of Miami.
“The objective is to double the amount of cargo activity,” Johnson said. In 2010 the port witnessed about 800,000 20-foot equivalent units, passing through its facility. “By 2020, in literally less than nine years, the Port of Miami should be double that, “he added.