Miami-Dade County - Port Miami

City-County team up to secure federal funding for Port of Miami Deep Dredge Project

Port of Miami Map Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez asked community leaders today to send a message to Washington about one of South Florida's most critical infrastructure improvement projects, the Port of Miami Deep Dredge project, which would deepen Miami Harbor to -50 feet to accommodate the world's largest cargo container vessels.

The Mayor has joined forces with City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado and other local elected and business leaders in seeking $75 million in federal funding to move the project forward. Along with the port tunnel, now under construction, the Deep Dredge is a major infrastructure improvement that will enable the port to double its cargo capacity over the next decade.

"Our top priority is to keep the Port of Miami a competitive player in world trade," Mayor Alvarez told a group of community leaders who have been tapped to lead the effort in securing federal funding. "To do that, we need to ready our port for a post-Panamax World which requires the -50 foot depth enabling the Port of Miami to be first in line to welcome the new, larger container vessels that will transverse the Panama Canal beginning in 2014."

Mayor Alvarez has asked Mayor Regalado and County Commissioner Dorrin Rolle to co-chair a leadership team comprised of 10 community leaders to lobby Washington for a $75 million allocation in the 2012 federal budget, necessary to move the project forward to coincide with the anticipated 2014 opening of the of the expanded Panama Canal.

"No infrastructure project in the State of Florida is more important than this one," said Port of Miami Director Bill Johnson. "The Deep Dredge has not only regional and statewide significance, but has been called as a nationally significant project by the Army Corp of Engineers."

The Port of Miami, according to Johnson, is the only port on the Eastern Seaport that has both the necessary Congressional authorization for the -50 foot dredge and has achieved "ready to go status" that would allow for the project to be completed by 2014 to coincide with the Panama Canal widening.

The Army Corp of Engineers is expected to finish the preliminary design and engineering work for the project next summer. However, the $75 million in federal funding must be secured if the Corp is to put the project to bid and adhere to a 2014 project completion timeline.

The County is striving to complete the dredge project in 2014 for another reason-it's the same year the new Port Tunnel, linking the interstate system and the Port of Miami, is scheduled to open. The tunnel, expected to greatly improve access to and from the Port, along with the Deep Dredge will enable the Port of Miami to double its cargo capacity over the next decade, Johnson said.

The following community leaders will serve on the Deep Dredge Leadership Team:

City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, Vice Chair
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Dorrin Rolle, Vice Chair
Bill Johnson, Director, Port of Miami
Barry Johnson, President and CEO, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce
Frank Nero, President and CEO, The Beacon Council
Charlotte Gallogly, President, World Trade Center
Tony Ojeda, Director, Jay Malina International Trade Consortium
Brian Dean, President, Gateway Florida
Manny Mencia, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Florida
William Alexander, President, CAMACOL
Bill Diggs, President, Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce
Clarence Pittman, President, International Longshoreman's Association (Local 1416)
Gerardo Becerra, President, International Longshoreman's Association (Local 1922)

Mayor Alvarez asked the group to send Washington the message that the Deep Dredge is supported by the entire South Florida community and is considered the most important economic development project in the region.