Southeast

Elsewhere, Florida’s Southeast ports are back to pre-pandemic status and payloads. In FY2021, PortMiami, the closest U.S. East Coast deep-water container port to the Panama Canal, boasted a record 1.254 million TEUs of containerized cargo, and with 1.038 million TEUs, Port Everglades wasn’t far behind.

On the cruising side, PortMiami and Port Everglades remain the world’s No. 1 and No. 3 cruise ports. Miami served 252,000+ passengers in 2021 and opened new terminals for Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival and Virgin Voyages, which launched its first Miami-origin cruise in 2022. Coming soon, MSC Cruises’ $450-million state-of-the-art terminal capable of servicing multiple cruise ships at one time, in 2023, and a new Miami headquarters for Royal Caribbean in 2024.

At Port Everglades, where the world’s largest cruise ship — Royal Caribbean’s “Wonder of the Seas” — embarked on its maiden voyage in March 2022, Disney Cruise Line is adding a homeport, while at the Port of Palm Beach, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Lines has rebranded as the Margaritaville at Sea Paradise, with 3-day/2-night cruising options to Freeport in Grand Bahama.

Air cargo activity is rebounding too. In 2021, Miami International handled 2.7 million tons of cargo compared to 2.3 million the previous year, thanks in part to major renovations/expansions by DHL Express and FedEx Express at their MIA cargo hubs. Air passenger numbers were even more impressive, doubling from 18.6 million in 2020 to 37.3 million in 2021 and setting MIA on a course to surpass 50 million air passengers in a single year soon.

Elsewhere, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport served 28.1 million passengers in 2021, up from 16.49 million the previous year, while Palm Beach International Airport handled 5.26 million passengers as it added economy flights to London, Oslo, Berlin and other European cities via Norse Atlantic Airways.

KEY PLAYERS: Amazon, Seattle, Wa.; DHL Express, Plantation; FedEx, Memphis, Tenn.

Finance & Technology

Southeast Florida has long been known as a place where wealthy entrepreneurs from the north build lavish second homes in anticipation of one day retiring beside the ocean. That’s not the case so much anymore.

Entrepreneurs are still moving to Southeast Florida, but they’re not waiting until retirement. They’re bringing their businesses — and in many cases their employees — with them. Much of that movement is taking place in the finance and technology sectors and in one case, it is changing the face of Miami quite literally.

When completed by the end of 2022, 830 Brickell will be the first new stand-alone office building to open in Miami’s financial district in more than a decade. Tenants in the 55-story building will include Microsoft with 50,000 square feet of space to house its Latin America regional team; private equity firm Thoma Bravo with 36,500 square feet; and Canadian asset management giant CI Financial, leasing 40,000 square feet for its U.S. headquarters. Standing 725 feet, 830 Brickell will be Miami’s second-tallest office building and the city’s fourth-tallest building over all after the 868-foot Panorama Tower, the Four Seasons Hotel Miami and the Southeast Financial Center.

Among other recent developments in Southeast’s thriving financial and technology sector:

KEY PLAYERS: CI Financial, Toronto, Ont.; Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.; Thoma Bravo, Chicago, Ill.

Tags: Business Florida