The study, which Port Everglades Director Phillip C. Allen presented during VisionBROWARD's International Business Symposium, measures the local, regional and state economic impacts generated by maritime activity at Port Everglades for jobs, personal income, business revenue and tax values.
'People may think of Port Everglades as a cruise port or the place where their food, clothing, gasoline and wide-screen televisions come in from foreign countries. But they may be surprised to learn that their neighbors work here and their businesses depend on the goods and services that support companies at the Port,' Allen says.
Martin Associates has conducted economic impact studies at more than 250 seaports and airports in the United States and Canada. The Lancaster, PA-based company also recently completed an in-depth national study for the American Association of Port Authorities and has been retained to do a similar study for the Florida Ports Council.
'We have long known that Port Everglades is a leading economic engine for Broward County and now we have a detailed model specific to Port Everglades developed by a national expert to measure the significance of that impact,' said Broward County Mayor Josephus Eggelletion, Jr. In the past, Port Everglades used a national input/output model to formulate its economic impact data.
Based on Port Everglades' fiscal year 2006 (October 1, 2005 through September 30, 2006) cargo and cruise statistics and interviews with 235 firms that represent 99% of the businesses at Port Everglades, the study found that the Port supports approximately 11,000 direct jobs that produce personal income of $394 million. The average annual salary for a person whose job is directly related to Port Everglades is $35,910.
Statewide, Port Everglades supports 188,000 jobs that produce personal income of $6.4 billion. The majority of these statewide jobs, approximately 160,000 are related user jobs, which are associated with manufacturing and distribution firms meeting product demands of various national and international consumers. Port Everglades ranks as the 11th busiest containerized cargo port in the US and is completing its fifth consecutive year of growth for containerized cargo with an average annual growth rate of 12.5%.
Local businesses receive approximately $2 billion of sales revenue from providing services to the cruise and cargo businesses operating from Port Everglades. Statewide, the cargo activity at Port Everglades (includes containers, bulk, break-bulk and petroleum) created an additional $14.8 billion economic output related to exporters and importers located throughout the State. The majority of this activity is associated with the Port's containerized cargo throughput.
The cruise and cargo activities at Port Everglades also generate more than $589 million in state and local tax revenue, according to the study.
