Florida’s sea ports handled $49.8 billion dollars-worth of containerized cargo last year, a 6 percent increase, according to a report by the Florida Ports Council.
The council represents Florida’s 15 publicly owned seaports and its report wasn’t all good news. The number of cruise ship passengers fell to 15.2 million last year, a 2-percent decline.
However, the report points out that 2014 was a record year for cruise passengers and represented a whopping 10-percent increase from the year before. Also on the downside, Florida’s waterborne trade deficit with Asia widened to more than $12 billion last year, an increase of about $3 billion.
