Port Canaveral’s Role in the U.S. Supply Chain Crisis

Melbourne, Fla. —No stone should be left unturned in the midst of the supply chain crisis that is causing businesses and customers across the nation big headaches related to holiday merchandising shipments.

Some small businesses are fearing their orders to supply the demand for the holidays are already off-calendar, some expecting their shipments to arrive somewhere after February of 2022— anticipating losses of revenue that for some will be like it never rains, but it pours. The commercial pipeline that each year brings $1 trillion worth of toys, clothing, electronics and furniture from Asia to the United States is clogged.

According to Reuters, more cooperation among the often competing, secretive players in the U.S. supply chain business is a plus. Players from ports to retail chains are already working full-tilt to handle the pandemic-fueled surge in imports and get holiday gifts onto shelves and e-commerce centers in time for the Nov. 26 Black Friday kickoff of the 2021 holiday season.

Florida has become the latest in a series of regional ports in the U.S. seeking to highlight availability as an alternative to the congestion and backlogs at the primary seaports in California and now increasingly also the U.S. East Coast. There is an aggressive campaign on behalf of the Florida Ports Council to promote Florida’s fifteen public seaports as an answer to the global supply chain crisis providing an opportunity to save time and money for shippers.

Florida continues to be a big player in the shipping game, but at Port Canaveral, most of the business is cruising. Miami, Everglades and Jacksonville are two alternatives with greater connection to rail lines which could move containers into a rail line and up to anywhere. It is very important to understand that the money that a container shipping company spends on land is generally more than what it is on the water, so you always want to get that cargo as close to the final destination as possible.

According to the Florida Ports Commission, Florida has the capacity to be the more efficient way to connect commerce to the East Coast or even the Midwest.

In the long run, over the next five years, the FPC says the ports will invest a total of $3.3 billion with more than two-thirds of the investment slated for the Atlantic coast seaports. More than a quarter of it will be spent on berth rehabilitation and repairs, with another 20 percent spent on cargo terminals, and nearly 10 percent on channel and harbor deepening projects.

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HECTOR PEREZ

PRODUCER

Hector is a licensed insurance agent with vast experience as a Transportation Specialist.