In anticipation of the expanded Panama Canal opening to bigger ships in 2016, plus keeping an eye on potential Cuba trade opportunities, officials of ports along Florida’s Atlantic Coast are advancing a plethora of projects to efficiently handle increasing cargo activity. While much of the focus is on containerized cargo, a number of ports along Florida’s East Coast also are growing volumes of bulk commodities, from oats to scrap metal to natural gas products. Starting in Miami and moving northward up the Sunshine State’s Atlantic Coast toward the Georgia line, here’s the latest: PortMiami Miami-Dade County’s PortMiami is poised to become the only port south of Virginia to offer 50-foot channel and alongside berth depths when the expanded Panama Canal opens. The port’s Deep Dredge project is on target for summer completion, allowing the port to handle larger vessels and enhance its competitiveness in the international marketplace. Global carriers already are recognizing the importance of PortMiami, with the 2M Alliance of Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co. choosing the port for calls, joining expanded services from CMA CGM Group, a recommitment from the G6 Alliance, and a new vessel-sharing agreement among Seaboard Marine Ltd., Crowley Maritime Corp. and King Ocean Services. Improvements to the Miami-Dade port’s landside links include a new toll-free tunnel directly connecting the island port with the mainland and the Interstate highway network, as well as recently instituted on-dock rail service by Florida East Coast Railway. Also, the port’s Foreign-Trade Zone No. 281 has expanded to encompass 3 million square feet of warehouse and logistics space at 27 approved sites. Port of Miami River Whereas PortMiami anticipates handling increasingly large containerships, the Port of Miami River, with its 15-foot-deep navigational channel, looks to expand its serving of Caribbean markets with the considerably smaller, shallower-draft vessels that have been the lifeblood of this trade for decades. The possibility of shift in U.S.-Cuba trade policies, following a Jan. 15 announcement from President Obama, offers opportunities of particular interest to Miami River operators. Such a shift could bring political challenges as well, as one of the Miami River marine industry’s staunchest supporters is U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., who was born in Cuba and in early February spoke out in Congress against policy changes proposed by the Obama administration. KCAM & SENIM Logistics LLC is the latest entity to establish a Miami River terminal, joining such carriers as Antillean Marine Shipping Corp., Betty K Line and Santé Shipping Lines. Port Everglades Florida’s busiest containerport – having handled more than 1 million twenty-foot-equivalent units in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2014 – Broward County’s Port Everglades has been partnering with public and private entities on tens of millions of dollars of landside infrastructure projects that enhance cargo-handling efficiencies while greatly reducing traffic congestion and related environmental impacts. In conjunction with Florida East Coast Railway and the State of Florida, Port Everglades completed in mid-2014 a $72 million, 43-acre intermodal container transfer facility near port docks. Among roadway projects on which the port has partnered with the Florida Department of Transportation is the Eller Drive Overpass, connecting the east end of Interstate 595 with the port’s main entrance, upholding port officials’ promise that there’s just one stoplight between Port Everglades and Los Angeles. Longer-term undertakings include new and lengthened cargo berths with super-post-Panamax cranes through the Southport Turning Notch extension project, slated for 2019 completion, plus continuing efforts to put a wider, deeper channel in place. Port of Palm Beach By next year, the Port of Palm Beach hopes to be the first U.S. port to export compressed natural gas. The CNG export plans, announced last fall, are progressing while the Riviera Beach port continues more than $35 million in dock projects backed by Florida Department of Transportation funding. Under an agreement with Emera CNG LLC, which holds a controlling interest in Grand Bahama Power Co., natural gas delivered via an intrastate pipeline to a compression station at the port is to be loaded on trailers to sail daily on roll-on/roll-off vessels to Freeport, Bahamas, where the CNG is to be used for power generation. Sailings to Nassau may be added in the future. Port officials point to the relatively small volume of gas involved and benefits of providing the Bahamas with a clean fuel alternative that can help stabilize Bahamian electricity rates while promoting U.S. economic development Port Canaveral While plans advance toward opening by midyear of the initial phase of the GT USA Container Terminal at Port Canaveral, with a direct cargo rail link on the horizon, the Central Florida port continues to build upon its traditional strengths in handling of bulk commodities, including a doubling in volumes by Hanson Slag Cement. In January, Martin Marietta Materials Inc., in conjunction with the Canaveral Port Authority, unveiled a $1.5 million, state-of-the-industry conveyor system for discharge of limestone at the port’s South Cargo Pier 4. The system is capable of offloading 2,000 tons of bulk material per hour. Also earlier this year, on the outbound front, Port Canaveral Scrap Terminal LLC engaged in the first export of scrap metal from the port, with stevedores from Ambassador Services Inc. loading 20,000 tons of the material aboard a vessel bound for Turkey, where the ferrous scrap is being used in creation of finished steel products. Port of Jacksonville With support of federal authorization, the Jacksonville Port Authority is moving forward with two harbor projects – one to remove a specific navigational hindrance and the second to deepen the harbor to 47 feet from 40 feet. Also, construction has begun on an intermodal container transfer facility at JAXPORT’s Dames Point Marine Terminal, while the authority has contracted for three new 100-gauge cranes to be in operation by 2016 at its Blount Island Marine Terminal. Sea Star Line and Crowley Maritime Corp. have expanded Puerto Rico service offerings; NYK Line has added Asia connections to its Middle East roll-on/roll-off service from Jacksonville; and a new six-carrier alliance is beefing up JAXPORT’s capacity with Brazil and Argentina. In January, the largest vessel ever to call at Jacksonville – Mitsui O.S.K. Lines’ MOL Competence, with a capacity of 8,100 twenty-foot-equivalent units – came into the TraPac Container Terminal at Dames Point. Also, Sea Star and Crowley are taking lead roles in Jacksonville’s emergence as a hub for liquefied natural gas as vessel fuel source. Port of Fernandina At the Port of Fernandina, operated by Kinder Morgan unit Nassau Terminals LLC under long-term contract with the Ocean Highway and Port Authority, $1.8 million in improvements to the port’s two gantry cranes have come at an opportune time, as officials report engagement in promising discussions with multiple carriers regarding prospects for regular container liner services. Meanwhile, the Port of Fernandina in January began handling bulk oat imports – animal feed business that previously had moved via the Port of Savannah – and the port is growing volumes in a recently added monthly breakbulk liner service to the Dominican Republic. The port, located in the extreme northeast corner of the Sunshine State, looks to complete by yearend its multiphased improvements to warehouse facilities. Fire prevention system installation was finished in 2014, and now the focus is on rail unloading dock improvements, waterproofing and insulation installation.