“This is a great public-private partnership that has been 15 years in the making and is expected to take less than two years to complete,” said Broward County Mayor John Rodstrom, Jr. “The ICTF is a double-bonus win for Broward County because it will help increase international trade while taking trucks off the roads.”
The ICTF at Port Everglades will be used to transfer international containers between ship and rail within the Port instead of having trucks haul the containers to and from off-port rail terminals, currently located off Andrews Avenue in Fort Lauderdale and in central Miami-Dade County. The FEC also plans to relocate its existing domestic intermodal service from its Andrews Avenue rail yard to the ICTF at Port Everglades. Once completed, the ICTF is expected to reduce congestion on interstate highways and local roadways and reduce harmful air emissions by diverting an estimated 180,000 trucks by 2027.
Today’s vote by the Broward County Commission ensures that Port Everglades will be a major hub for international trade. The FEC will develop a state-of-the-art, intermodal facility that will bring long-term jobs, stimulate additional capital projects such as new warehouse and distribution facilities, and create new trading lanes to and from South America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia,” said James R. Hertwig, President, Florida East Coast Railway, L.L.C. “The opening of the ICTF will be timed to take advantage of the expected growth in container volumes at Port Everglades.”
In July 2011, Port Everglades took the first step towards developing the ICTF when the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) broke ground on the Eller Drive Overpass, which will elevate I-595/Eller Drive to allow the freight trains to access the Southport area of the Port at ground level. The Overpass project is expected to be completed by late-2013 at a cost of $53 million.
The lease between the County and the FEC was a prerequisite for the railway to secure a $30 million loan from the Florida State Infrastructure Bank. FDOT is expected to make a final decision later this year. The total project cost for the ICTF at Port Everglades is estimated to be $72 million, including a 42.5-acre Port land contribution by Broward County valued at $19 million. The remaining costs will be covered by the FEC and FDOT grants.
Combined, both the Eller Drive Overpass and the ICTF projects are estimated to create 767 construction jobs over three years.
“An ICTF on Port Everglades property is crucial to keeping our seaport competitive with other U.S. East Coast ports and putting people to work right here in South Florida,” said Port Everglades Chief Executive Phil Allen. “This unique public–private partnership is consistent with Governor Scott’s efforts to increase development support to Florida’s ports by leveraging private sector capital to complete the project.”
