Amid a global supply chain shortage and backlogs in states like California, Florida ports are taking on extra vessels and offering incentives to companies to send their goods through ports in the Sunshine State, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced at a press conference in Jacksonville, Fla. on Tuesday.
“We in Florida have the ability to help alleviate these logjams,” DeSantis said. “We’re here, we have capacity. And not only that, I’m proud to announce … that JAXPORT and some of the other ports are also stepping up even above and beyond by offering incentive packages to businesses who want to move their cargo through these ports.”
Leaders from ports around the state joined DeSantis to urge companies that “we want your business.”
As DeSantis noted, German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd last week rerouted its Atlantic Loop 3 to go through the Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT). “The service call will last for at least eight weeks and bring an estimated 1,000 additional containers a week through JAXPORT,” reported the Ponte Vedra Recorder.
Additionally, “Port Everglades recently accommodated the MSC Stella container ship with nearly 7,000 containers this past weekend and the MSC Susanna container ship with 9,200 containers is arriving this weekend from India via the Suez Canal,” DeSantis said.
Last Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced that the Port of Los Angeles would operate 24/7 in an attempt to fight the labor shortages, shipping backlogs, and resulting empty shelves that the White House’s economic policies have exacerbated. On the same day, The New York Times reported that “25 container ships were anchored in the Port of Los Angeles waiting to unload their cargo, and the average anchorage time had stretched to more than 11 days,” admitting “it is unclear how much the White House’s efforts can realistically help.”
“Our ports operate 24/7, I mean, that should be happening anyways,” DeSantis said, noting the importance of long-term investments in ports. “Since I became governor in 2019, we’ve allocated almost a billion dollars to over 70 Florida seaport projects,” he said. The state of Florida funneled $250 million into its seaports in July.
“Florida is open for business, and we are the solution to help resolve the global supply chain crisis,” said President and CEO of the Florida Ports Council Michael Rubin last week. “Instead of waiting off the coast of California, cargo vessels can offload and move their product to Florida and other discretionary markets in the same time it takes to find space in an increasingly congested California.”
