Florida's Ports: A Path to Prosperity

Florida is uniquely positioned to become the next shipping powerhouse on the East Coast, and potentially the nation.

By Gov. Rick Scott, state of Florida

Towards the end of the 19th century, the "Mother of Miami," Julia Tuttle, envisioned the soon-tobe- created city of Miami would become a center of trade in the United States and a "gateway to the Americas." That was just a few years before the Army Corps of Engineers cut a path through the mangrove swamps of a barrier island and allowed the first direct access from the mainland to the Atlantic. That early infrastructure project not only opened the way for larger ships to Miami, but it also opened the gates of opportunity to a world of economic prosperity and growth.

While Tuttle's vision has certainly been fulfilled to a great extent, I believe the best is yet to come. With more than 1,200 miles of coastline, 14 deepwater ports and geographic and cultural proximity to the emerging markets of Central and South America, Florida is poised to become the shipping capitol of the United States. But to make that happen, we must invest in the right infrastructure projects.

In 2014, the Panama Canal expansion project will be complete, and the new, more massive post-Panamax ships will begin making their way towards the U.S. But these ships are so large that none of our ports are deep enough to handle them, at least not yet. It has become clear that we must invest in and expand our Florida Ports. Even in these tough economic times, I am ensuring this state commits the funds necessary to get the Port of Miami dredged to the necessary depth. We are making this commitment so Miami will be ready when the first ships begin sailing through the newly expanded canal towards our peninsula.

Business leaders and elected officials in Miami demonstrated great leadership by preparing the way for that project to get done. The local portion required from the port, nearly $38 million, had already been committed to the project. And a tunnel project, which would allow trucks to get shipments directly from the port to the interstate, was already underway.

As the "jobs governor" of the Sunshine State, I was elected to help get people back to work. Smart infrastructure projects will be a big part of that solution for any state. But for us in Florida, a major component of growing jobs means we must develop the full potential of our ports.

We started solving the funding challenge of the Miami project by looking at future contracts at the Florida Department of Transportation and renegotiating bids at a lower cost. We looked for other efficiency measures as well. Those savings added up. And in February, I directed $77 million from our DOT to fund the remaining balance of a project that will allow the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the Port of Miami to a 50-foot depth — the depth required to give Miami the chance to be the first Port of Call for the post-Panamax ships.

Shortly after that announcement, I led a trade mission to Panama to tout the benefits and opportunities our ports will bring to that country as well as ours. I brought along business leaders, including port executives from around the state, to help decision makers in Panama see how serious we are about these projects.

The Miami dredging project is a solid first step toward enhancing Florida's infrastructure and getting our state ready for a new generation of international trade with South America and beyond. That port investment, which is expected to be completed just in time for the Panama Canal expansion, will bring an estimated 33,000 jobs and billions of dollars of business to South Florida.

We're also working to get the Port of Jacksonville ready to handle the post-Panamax ships, and I've been talking to officials at the rest of the state's ports about plans that will help them keep Florida growing. As leaders, we must stay committed to investment projects that will produce solid returns and generate long-term dividends in the form of permanent jobs and sustained economic growth.

Much like they did in the early history of this state, we are literally cutting paths to the future through intelligent infrastructure projects. Julia Tuttle's vision of Miami being the gateway to the Americas and one of this country's principle centers for trade is being expanded, not only in that city, but around the state. As we work to expand and develop our ports, that new vision will become a reality.

Gov. Rick Scott is Florida's 45th governor and is known as the "Jobs Governor" because of his 7-7-7 Plan to create 700,000 jobs in seven years. For more information, visit www.flgov.com.