Will Florida Port Improvements Drive Private Investments?

MIAMI-When an underground tunnel connecting PortMiami and Interstate 395 is completed in 2014, flatbed trucks hauling cargo containers will be able to travel from Miami to Massachusetts without passing through a single traffic light, notes John Carver, head of Jones Lang LaSalle‘s Ports, Airports and Global Infrastructure group, which recently relocated from Los Angeles to Miami. Nearby, he explains, a restored rail link connecting the Port with the Florida East Coast Railway will enable the transfer of up to 200 containers at a time, a far cry from the one-by-one loading process underway today.

“The tunnel and rail projects are part of a multi-phase, $6.4 billion overhaul at PortMiami that will also see a 50-foot deep dredge capable of accommodating so-called post-Panamax ships—vessels currently too large to traverse the Panama Canal,” Carver tells GlobeSt.com. “Officials estimate the upgrades will increase PortMiami’s capacity from 1 million TEUs today to 2 million TEUs in 2020—and 3 million TEUs in 2035.”