PortMiami ready to handle new class of mega ships

The manufacturing of massive mega-ships is prompting ports around the world to refit infrastructure to handle the giant vessels, and PortMiami is now set to move into that new era, with its 50 to 52-foot Deep Dredge project and On-dock Intermodal Rail recently being completed, making it the only major logistics hub south of Virginia capable of handling fully loaded post-Panamax vessels.

More than $1 billion of capital infrastructure projects were completed to transform PortMiami into a major U.S. global gateway. PortMiami now has facilities to handle Super Post-Panamax gantry cranes that can service cargo vessels up to 22 containers wide and up to nine containers above deck and eleven containers below.

On-dock intermodal rail service was built up in partnership with Florida East Coast Railway, which now links PortMiami to seventy percent of the U.S. population in four days or less. The port also has a new fast access tunnel connecting PortMiami directly to the U.S. Interstate Highway System.

"A new big ship era is here and PortMiami is ready," PortMiami Director and CEO Juan M. Kuryla said. "I am proud to say that PortMiami is now able to berth Post-Panamax ships and we are able to expedite the movement of goods throughout Florida, the continental U.S. and the world, fast and efficiently.”