There is no doubt that the expansion of the Panama Canal and the Port of Miami will impact the Miami industrial real estate market. More trade means more cargo which occupies larger warehouse spaces. The vacancy is now 9% and you may expect this to fall steadily as we reach 2014; the year the construction in Panama is completed. We might also hear announcements from local industrial warehouse developers about new projects. Not only will the demand for Miami warehouse spaces increase. The demand for office space should increase from those that service the international trade industry, plus retail space may be needed for all of those international shoppers and visitors. To read more about the Port of Miami and the following projects: Port of Miami tunnel, FEC rail and deep dredge, please <<click here>>.

On Friday, February 18th, brokers from the Miami industrial warehouse team attended the Panama Canal Expansion event presented by World City and RCA Miami. This comprehensive event included speakers from the Port of Miami, POMTOC, Miami-Dade County, Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway and the Panama Canal. The event was sponsored by Miami International Airport, Miami-Dade County, Seaboard Marine, Port of Miami, American Airlines Cargo and SeaFreight Agencies. About 200 people attended the event. If you would be interested in any of the presentations, please contact us and let us know. We would be happy to forward to you.

Several takeaways for myself included the comment about the USA’s Jones Act from Mr. Rodolfo Sabonge of the Panama Canal Authority. He stated that has an effect on the USA’s maritime economy. Since I was not familiar with what the Jones Act (aka the Merchant Marine Act), I looked it up on Wikipedia. see <<Jones Act>>. With the 100th anniversary coming up in 2014 and the completion of the expansion of the Panama Canal, it is very timely to visit Panama and take into consideration the business opportunities. Miami-Dade County will be conducting a business development mission to Panama in June of 2011. Another thing  that I took away from this event is that even if Miami did not get the deep dredge, our port would still prosper. Instead of getting the larger containerized ships, Miami might become more specialized. For example, the Port of Miami may become more diversified by receiving more cargo headed for South & Central America; refrigerated and freezers containers; smaller ships; non-containerized cargo such as buildings supplies, heavy equipment, automobiles, etc.; and have higher traffic with quicker unload times. From Panama, Miami is the closest city on the eastern coast of the USA; so this would likely remain a competitive advantage in either case.

For an aerial photo and map of the Port of Miami from Google just <<click here>>.

Exciting news is that the Miami port was just awarded the grant of $22,000,000 which will be used to renovate  the rail service between the Port of Miami and the Florida East Coast railroad. This rail will transport freight to the rail yard in Hialeah and then on to the national rail system. Since Miami, South Florida is at the southern end of the Florida peninsula, it is important that sea freight cargo and freight have access to the national rail system to take further north. This has been a project masterminded by the Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida East Coast Railway.

Miami’s industrial real estate market and economy is going to change Post Panamax by 2014. You can read more about this by reading: “Miami warehouses Post Panamax“. The Port of Miami Director, Bill Johnson, is attempting to successfully lobby for $75,000,000 of federal funding to deepen the channel to 50′ which would allow the large ships to access the Miami port. This is known as the deep dredge. Most of our customers and officials we speak with believe that this has a very high probabilty of happening and making the “deep dredge a reality”. You can visit the Port of Miami website at www.miamidade.gov/portofmiami/cargo.asp.

To learn more, visit the Port of Miami tunnel at www.portofmiamitunnel.com. The third project that is now well underway is the Port of Miami Tunnel. Most Miamian’s know that the Port of Miami is on an island, Dodge Island. So getting the cargo off the island as soon as possible to make room is of vital importance.

The new tunnel is being constructed from Dodge Island then underneath Biscayne Bay which will then lead to I-95 and I-395 highways. The Director balances between the dual-purpose port which is known both as the “Cruise Capital of the World” and the “Cargo Gateway of the Americas”.