Port Everglades receives $32M state grant for sea level rise infrastructure
Port Everglades was awarded a $32 million grant this week to mitigate environmental threats from flooding and sea level rise and ensure continued access for marine vessels. This grant is part of more than $275 million for resilience projects issued by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The Port will use the Resilient Florida Infrastructure Grant to replace bulkheads in the northern part of the Port, which will assist in reducing the impacts of climate change to the Port and neighboring residents. In addition to replacing the aging bulkheads, there is a future opportunity to raise the bulkhead height. The bulkheads will be designed based on a projection of 4.36 feet in sea level rise by 2095. The estimate comes from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' High Scenario Sea Level Rise established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report.
Additionally, the Port will replace the north entrance channel bulkhead, which will support the continued safe navigation of the waterway for all marine traffic including cargo ships, cruise ships and energy vessels.
About Port Everglades
As one of Florida's leading economic generators, Broward County's Port Everglades is the gateway for international trade and cruise vacations. Consistently ranked among the top three busiest cruise ports in the world, Port Everglades is also one of the nation's leading container ports and South Florida's main seaport for receiving energy products including gasoline, jet fuel and alternative fuels. The Port Everglades Department is a self-supporting Enterprise Fund of Broward County, Florida government with operating revenues of almost $103.5 million in Fiscal Year 2021 (October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021). It does not rely on local tax dollars for operations. The total value of economic activity related to Port Everglades exceed $30 billion. More than 206,000 Florida jobs are impacted by the Port, including 7,000 people who work for companies that provide direct services to Port Everglades.