Crowley Liner Services, the first tenant in Port Everglades developing Southport Container Complex and the largest container volume producer, has agreed to reconfigure its leasehold, a move that is strategically beneficial for both Crowley and Port Everglades.
The Broward County Board of County Commissioners has approved a recommendation by the Port Everglades Department to relocate a portion of the current leasehold to the south of Crowley’s current terminal. This action makes a prime parcel of dockside land available for leasing to container businesses through a competitive bidding process already underway. The Port received six responses to its Request for Letters of Interest for a new Southport Marine Terminal Operator. Presentations are scheduled to be held before the Selection/Negotiation Committee on October 15, 2003. With the recent success in securing new container ship clients for Broward County’s Port Everglades and the continuing efforts to attract even more customers, Port Everglades officials view this as an opportunity to increase container volumes and generate a higher level of economic activity with accompanying impacts on the South Florida economy.
As the very first tenant of the Southport Container Terminal Complex at Port Everglades, Crowley Liner Services worked the bare bones land and dock area to later become part of the national company that is consistently ranked among the top three ocean container carriers of the nation as measured by number of 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs). Their company s current leasehold is for approximately 70 acres and their lease period is through 2010 with an option to renew for another 10 years. Crowley has always been among the top revenue producers for Port Everglades. Crowley is also one of the leading ocean cargo carriers between the U.S. and Eastern Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and North Coast of South America and operates more than 30 barges and ships with an equipment fleet numbering 34,000 in containers, trailers, and other types of intermodal equipment.