Economic Impact

Fiscal Year 2023 Report (PDF 458kb)

Port Everglades is an economic powerhouse for Broward County. 

Port Everglades generates more than $26.5 billion worth of business activity annually and supports 10,778 direct local jobs and 192,688 jobs statewide, according to a study produced by nationally recognized maritime research company Martin Associates.  

Definitions 

Direct jobs are those that would not exist if activity at the Port’s cargo and cruise facilities were to cease. Direct jobs created by maritime cargo activity at the Port’s terminals are those jobs with the firms directly providing cargo handling and vessel services, including trucking companies, terminal operators and stevedores, members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), Teamsters Union and non-union dockworkers, freight forwarders and customshouse brokers, vessel agents, pilots, and tug assist companies. Direct employees created by the cruise operations include the jobs with the firms providing the direct vessel services –chandlers, pilots, longshoremen, line handlers, local advertising firms, caterers, liquor wholesalers, linen companies, security firms, waste disposal firms, parking, local transportation -- as well as the firms providing services to the passengers on the vessels -- hotels, taxi cabs, restaurants, and tour packages. Also included are impacts generated at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport due to the cruise passengers arriving via air.

Induced jobs are jobs created in the Greater Fort Lauderdale area by the purchases of goods and services by those individuals directly employed by each of the Port’s lines of business. These jobs are based on the local purchase patterns of Greater Fort Lauderdale area residents. The induced jobs are jobs with grocery stores, restaurants, health care providers, retail stores, local housing/construction industry, and transportation services, as well as with wholesalers providing the goods to the retailers.

Indirect jobs are created throughout the Greater Fort Lauderdale area as the result of purchases for goods and services by the firms directly impacted by Port Everglades activity, including the tenants, terminal operators and the firms providing services to cargo – which includes containerized cargo, petroleum, general cargo, RO/RO-FLO/FLO and dry bulks and cruise passenger operations. The indirect jobs are measured based on actual local purchase patterns of the directly dependent firms, and occur with such industries as utilities, office supplies, contract service providers, maintenance and repair, and construction.

Related user jobs are jobs with shippers and consignees (exporters and importers) including the state’s retail and wholesale and distribution industries and the in-state industries supporting the movement and distribution of cargo imports and exports using the seaport terminals for shipment and receipt of cargo. While these impacts occur for all commodities, the majority of Port Everglades shippers and consignees’ impacts involve the import and export of ocean containerized cargo. Port Everglades and other South Florida ports, including PortMiami, are unique in the fact that a more balanced (inbound/outbound) trade exists. These jobs, while difficult to isolate to a specific county, are held throughout the state including Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Related user jobs are not dependent upon the seaport marine terminals to the same extent as are the direct, induced, and indirect jobs since it is the demand for the final products, which creates the demand for the employment with these shippers/consignees, not the use of a particular seaport or maritime terminal, and therefore these firms can and do use other ports. For example, when hurricane devastation renders a port’s container and breakbulk terminals inoperable, essentially suspending operations at the port, the direct, induced, and indirect jobholders are immediately affected with similar consequence. However, the jobs held with related users such as manufacturing as well as wholesale and retail distribution throughout the unaffected areas of state will continue to operate. These firms are required to find alternative ports to ship and receive cargo in order to maintain given levels of operation. Therefore, viable port operations are essential to long-term retention of import and export related jobs throughout the state.

The employee earnings consist of wages and salaries and include a re-spending effect (local purchases of goods and services by those directly employed), while business revenue consists of total business receipts by firms providing services in support of the seaport activity. Local purchases for goods and services made by the directly impacted firms are also measured. These local purchases by the dependent firms create the indirect impacts. State and local taxes include taxes paid by individuals and firms dependent upon the seaport activity.

ABOUT THE REPORT 

This report is based on interviews interviews and Martin Associates’ proprietary database collected from 264 firms in the Greater Fort Lauderdale area conducted between January and May 2023. These firms represent 98+ percent of the firms in the Port Everglades seaport community, underscoring the defensibility of the study. Data collected from Broward County Port Everglades Department includes Port Everglades Department employment, tonnage, cruise passenger activity, vessel (both cargo and cruise) calls, Port revenues and expenditures to estimate the FY2023 impacts. 

A copy of the full report can be obtained by request to PortEverglades@broward.org.