• Containerized trade volumes increased by nearly 60% between 2001 and 2007 as the global economic boom triggered a wave of spending on US and foreign goods.

• Demand for industrial space drove up occupancy by roughly 20% during that time frame, faster than any other US commercial real estate class.

• Since the volume of containerized shipping peaked in 2007, average industrial vacancy within the leading ports actually dropped by 15%.

"South Florida will be the beneficiary of the Panama Canal in a big way," says Steven Wasserman, manager with Colliers Abood Wood-Fay in Fort Lauderdale. "Port Everglades is in the process of dredging and expanding, and increased tonnage of products will flow through this port when completed in about five years."

Wasserman adds that the Port of Miami will grow in tonnage as South and Latin American countries continue to develop. Demand for consumer products such as kitchen appliances and high-tech products will flow through Miami, he says.

Continued growth of export demand will be important to the Miami and Fort Lauderdale industrial markets as the federal government pledges to double the total volume of American exports over the next five years, Colliers' white paper states. Part of that initiative will be the creation of two million jobs, many of which will ultimately fill vacant seaport buildings and fuel demand for up to 500 million square feet of industrial space in the nation's largest port markets.

Consolidation is leading to a smaller number of seaports, Colliers adds. The market share of the top 10 US ports jumped from 89.2% in 2001 to 91.6% in 2008, thus showing that foreign container ships visited fewer domestic ports during those seven years.

Miami's industrial vacancy rose by a full percentage point throughout 2009, ending the year at 8.6%, while average asking rents fell 15% to $6.83 per square foot, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Although leasing activity fell over the year to 5.3 million square feet and negative overall absorption reached a historic low at 3.9 million square feet, no new construction is under way beyond a 165,000-square-foot speculative building in the Airport West submarket.

"The lack of new supply is a critical factor that will help drive recovery in the industrial market," Cushman & Wakefield stated in a research report. "Overall, tenant demand needs to improve and absorb the existing space until market fundamentals can begin to tighten and return to equilibrium."

In Broward County, industrial vacancy rose nearly two percentage points last year to 9.4% with three million square feet of leasing activity and 3.3 million square feet of overall negative absorption, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Average asking rents declined over the year to $7.39 per square foot, though C&W brokers say competitive pricing should spark leasing momentum this year.