PortMiami and the Miami-Dade Economy

The PortMiami home page says the port contributes $61 billion annually to the economy and supports 340,078 jobs, yet a Business Information block on that same county page still prints $42 billion (PortMiami home page).

The headline counters on the PortMiami home page describe the port as among Miami-Dade County's largest economic engines, at $61 billion annually and 340,078 jobs. Lower on that page, the Business Information block keeps different wording: more than 340,000 jobs, $42 billion annually and the second largest economic engine in Miami-Dade County, and the About panel says over $61 billion annually to the local economy and more than 340,000 jobs across Florida, so the county's own pages place the jobs across Florida rather than in Miami-Dade alone (PortMiami Economic Impact Study page).

The Economic Impact Study page says the study behind these numbers measures jobs, business revenue, consumer spending, and state and local taxes, and posts an executive summary and full report as downloads (PortMiami). The county describes the 340,078 as jobs the port supports, which is not a payroll count, so it cannot be set beside the BLS figures below.

Private water transportation companies in Miami-Dade County averaged 12,658 jobs in 2025 at an average annual pay of $139,408, the Bureau of Labor Statistics QCEW annual county file shows (BLS QCEW, Miami-Dade 2025).

Nearly all of those Miami-Dade jobs fall in deep sea, coastal, and great lakes water transportation, the industry title BLS uses for NAICS 4831 (BLS industry titles), which counted 12,603 jobs at 77 establishments and paid $139,647, up 594 jobs from 2024. The hands-on port work is smaller and paid less: support activities for water transportation counted 3,222 jobs at $69,243, down 231, and marine cargo handling, a part of that support group, counted 2,702 jobs at 26 establishments, paying $64,332 (BLS QCEW).

Freight transportation arrangement (NAICS 4885) is the widest of these Miami-Dade groups at 1,098 establishments. All private industries in the county averaged 1,138,710 jobs at $81,367 in 2025, so water transportation pay ran about 1.7 times the county average while cargo handling pay ran below it (BLS QCEW). These are private ownership rows (QCEW ownership code 5); BLS tabulates local government employers under a separate code (BLS QCEW ownership codes), so government payrolls are not in them.

Fiscal Year 2025, the 12 months from October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025, brought PortMiami 8,564,225 cruise passengers and 1,115,058 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo (Miami-Dade County, December 2, 2025).

The timing matters for anyone quoting Miami port numbers this fall. On the same October to September calendar, FY 2026 ended on September 30, 2026, but the county's FY 2025 release came out on December 2, 2025, and as of October 18, 2026 the PortMiami home page still shows the FY 2025 counters of 8,564,225 cruise passengers and 1,115,058 TEUs (PortMiami home page). A separate Shipping Lines line on that home page credits the port with more than 1,120,913 TEUs for a "last fiscal year" it does not name, a figure that matches neither year in the December 2025 release (PortMiami home page). Until the county posts FY 2026 results, FY 2025 is the newest fiscal year the county has reported by name.

PortMiami says it is Big Ship Ready after one billion dollars of completed infrastructure work, including the Deep Dredge Project that took its channel to -50/-52 feet, the Port Tunnel and daily on-dock rail (PortMiami Capital Improvements).

On the docks, PortMiami's Super Post-Panamax cranes have an outreach of 22 containers wide, and the county calls them the largest in any Southeastern U.S. port. The port invested $50 million in modernizing its on-dock freight rail system, which connects PortMiami to the national rail network, and the Port Tunnel gives direct access to the U.S. Interstate Highway System (PortMiami Capital Improvements).

Yard work continued in FY 2025. The county's December 2025 release lists the second phase of its eRTG (Electric Rubber-Tired Gantry Crane) Project as complete, bringing the South Florida Container Terminal to 18 eRTGs so containers can be stacked higher, and said draining and berth rehabilitation work continues in the Seaboard Marine yard (Miami-Dade County release).

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is studying whether to widen or deepen parts of Miami Harbor's federal channels again, after finishing the Miami Harbor Deepening Project (Phase III) in 2015 (USACE Jacksonville District).

The Corps says container vessels entering or leaving Miami Harbor today are restricted by channel depth and must light load or wait on tide, and that cruise ships face delays because of limited turning basin dimensions. It names the Lummus Island Turning Basin, the Fisher Island Turning Basin and Fisherman's Channel as the tight spots for larger Post-Panamax ships and cruise ships passing moored containerships (Miami Harbor Navigation Improvement Study).

The study began with a Feasibility Cost Sharing Agreement signed on 09/04/2018, with PortMiami as its non-federal sponsor. The Corps page gives two cost figures: its FAQ still says the study cost is limited to $3 million, so the non-federal share is limited to $1.5 million, while its status update says an exception approved by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works on June 6, 2022 modifies the funding from $3 million to $7.48 million and extends the study from three years to 7.75 years. For navigation projects the page cites Section 2211 of WRDA 1986, as amended, for a cost share of 75 percent federal and 25 percent non-federal for projects 50 feet deep and less, and 50 percent each for projects deeper than 50 feet (USACE). Options under review include using dredged material to fill legacy dredge holes in Biscayne Bay to help seagrass return in the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve.

The Corps page is out of date: it says the draft report would seek public comment in December 2024 and that final completion is expected in the Summer of 2026, and as of October 18, 2026 it posts no final report. Questions go to the study address on that page, [email protected] (USACE study page).

PortMiami is run by Miami-Dade County, which names Hydi Webb as PortMiami Director and CEO on the port's home page (PortMiami home page).

The two names conflict on the same site: the Director's Biography link still reads "Learn more about Jonathan Daniels, PortMiami's Director and CEO." (PortMiami home page).

The port's rules and charges come from county law: PortMiami's tariff is issued under Implementing Order No. 4-4 pursuant to Section 4.02 of the Home Rule Charter (PortMiami Port Tariff). The county posts the 2025 and 2024 Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports for the port (PortMiami Financial Reports), and PortMiami describes itself as landlord to many maritime businesses, with a leasing contact at 305-347-4908 (PortMiami Port Tenants).

The PortMiami 2035 Master Plan, a sub-element of Miami-Dade County's Comprehensive Development Master Plan (CDMP), anticipates cargo traffic doubling over the next decade (PortMiami 2035 Master Plan). For cruise growth, the county lists the Mayor, county commissioners, Hydi Webb and Royal Caribbean Group as leading a groundbreaking ceremony for the future Cruise Terminal G (PortMiami).

For workers, PortMiami's Workforce Development Program, launched in 2023, has met with over 60 industry stakeholders, signed a memorandum of understanding with Miami Dade College's Miguel B. Fernandez Family School of Global Business, Trade and Transportation, and built one and two year paid apprenticeships with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and maritime companies (PortMiami Workforce Development).

Last verified: October 18, 2026, on the Miami-Dade County PortMiami website, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District study page and the BLS QCEW 2025 annual file for Miami-Dade County.