Florida Seaport System Plan - SeaCIP

Florida Seaport System Plan
While ports can produce local concentrations of truck and rail activity, these
effects are offset by the systemwide benefits they provide, in the form of reduced
surface transportation miles of travel and associated impacts – congestion, system
maintenance, safety, and air quality. Without Florida seaports, goods destined
for Florida consumers, as well as goods Florida exports, would be moved greater
distances on the highway and rail network in order to get to market, resulting in
greater highway congestion than exists today.
1.2 Seaport System Planning and Funding
Historically, each of Florida’s ports was created through local and/or state
legislative processes. Each port has developed over time, in accordance with
the needs of its local area, pursuant to local government comprehensive
planning processes. 6
This has resulted in differing operating structures,
relationships to each other, and relationships to local, regional, and state
governments in different areas of the State. Examples of this include:
• Each of Florida’s ports prepares its own individual master plan. Each port
has its own adopted mission, and is accountable to its own governing
Board. Each port collects revenues and makes investment decisions
according to its own plans, business strategies, and requirements.
• To some extent, the ports function independently of each other, serving local/
regional needs, or unique gateway markets, or specialized niche markets and
customers. In some markets, they also compete with each other for the same
business, particularly for high-value cruise and container markets.
• Florida’s ports and the State cooperate on matters of mutual interest, and
this cooperation is codified in Chapter 311 of the Florida Statues, which
established the duties of the Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic
Development Council (FSTED). The FSTED Council is made up of the
Directors of the 14 deepwater seaports, the Secretary of Transportation, the
Secretary of the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), and the
Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Trade, Tourism, and
Economic Development (OTTED). The Council develops and maintains
through annual updates “A Five-Year Mission for Florida’s Seaports” (the
Seaport Mission Plan) which provides a profile of Florida’s deepwater seaports,
including current conditions and five-year forecasts for each seaport,
identifies critical issues for the maritime community and addresses overall
seaport goals, opportunities, constraints, and needs. FSTED also allocates
seaport system funding provided by the State, through a strategic and
criteria-based process. In addition, FPC staffs the FSTED Council and
supports ongoing visioning exercises and research for Florida’s seaports.
6
Local government comprehensive planning process requirements are defined in
Section 163.3178(2)(k), F.S., and Rules 9J-5.012(5) and 9J-5.019, F.A.C.
Florida Department of Transportation 1-3
December 2010