Port Everglades Foreign Trade Zone Expansion Approved

The U.S. Department of Commerce has approved Port Everglades' request to expand the Foreign Trade Zone from 30 to 82 acres. Commissioner Fred J. Stevens, senior member of the Port Commission, stated: "The 52-acre expansion area makes Port Everglades the largest Foreign Trade Zone in Florida." Commissioner Stevens also stated: "The original 30 acres of the Zone should be filled with one and a half million square feet of building floor space within three years, which could mean about 200 new jobs in Broward County. We expect the additional 52 acres will be developed by 1985, and there should be over 700 people working in the Zone by then." The Port's Zone is the first such facility authorized in Florida, and is the only operating Zone in the state. During the past year, more than 30 companies have used the Zone as a transshipment point to distribute merchandise from the Far East and Europe to South and Central America, and only about 10 percent of the merchandise handled has entered the United States.

Commissioner Stevens stated: "The Zone is developing a unique characteristic, as most merchandise is shipped out to foreign countries rather than being imported into the United States.

This is the opposite to other zones, as most of the shipments are sold to customers in this country." The Port began Zone operations in a 47,000-square-foot warehouse in Dania last July. It will move into new quarters in the Port this month. The new Zone, which cost almost 3 million dollars to construct, will have two buildings totaling 140,000 square feet of warehouse space and 15 acres of land ready to lease for building by Zone users. Fourteen companies have already signed leases for space in the warehouses, and about 20 other companies are using the Zone through its public warehouse facility, which does not require them to lease space from the Port.

Maritime Reporter Magazine, page 36, Sep 1978

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