Port Everglades Celebrates Second Highest Year for Container Volumes

Port Everglades fell one day short of beating its own annual record for containerized cargo volumes in Fiscal Year 2022 (ending September 30, 2022). The ships that would have taken Port Everglades over the top were delayed when the port closed to prepare for Hurricane Ian in late September. Those delayed ships offloaded on October 1, at the start of the new fiscal year and one day too late to claim a new record.

"It's frustrating that we were just 919 containers short of breaking our 2018 record, but gratifying to know that these high volumes translate into successes for our customers and greater economic benefits for the region," said Port Everglades Chief Executive Officer and Port Director Jonathan Daniels.

Port Everglades moved a total of 1,107,546 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units, the standard measurement for container volumes) in FY2022, up 7% from FY2021, according to the Port's unaudited end-of-fiscal-year report.

"We expected to eventually return to normal cargo levels by the end of the year, and were pleasantly surprised by additional volumes from MSC, Maersk and CMA CGM," Daniels said. "The new business can be attributed to increasing consumer demand in Florida and the Port's intermodal assets to efficiently move goods into the marketplace. We may also be seeing some opportunity from services that have been impacted by congestion at other ports."

On a calendar year-to-date basis, trade at Port Everglades was valued at $21.45 billion, an increase of 23.92% through September, according to the WorldCity trade analysis website. Exports totaled $10.66 billion, up 25.07% while imports were valued at $10.79 billion, up 22.8%. 

The Port's energy sector also celebrated its second-best year, with a 12% increase in petroleum volumes.  A near record of 126,502,464 barrels of petroleum (5.3 billion gallons), mostly gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, were distributed by the privately owned energy companies that operate from Port Everglades.