Florida Trade and Ports Economy

FDOT's statewide seaport study puts the total economic value of Florida's public seaports at $195.9 billion in 2023, 12.2 percent of Florida GDP, supporting almost 1.2 million jobs (FDOT Statewide Economic Impact Analysis).

The study updates a 2016 analysis that used 2015 data. FDOT puts 2015 jobs at 804,150 and 2023 jobs at almost 1.2 million, which it describes as a 44.5 percent increase, or more than 350,000 new jobs, and it gives total economic value of $117.6 billion for 2015 and $195.9 billion for 2023, a 66.6 percent increase (FDOT). Total personal income tied to port activity reached $61.7 billion. The job count includes direct, induced, indirect and related user jobs: FDOT counts 240,921 direct, indirect and induced jobs and 920,723 related user jobs.

FDOT attributes $176.1 billion and over 1 million jobs to cargo operations and $19.8 billion and almost 82,000 jobs to cruise operations in 2023 (FDOT Statewide Economic Impact Analysis). Since 2015 the seaports handled 20.4 percent more cargo and 29.7 percent more cruise passengers. Cruise ports have their own Florida cruise port guide in this topics section.

Port Tampa Bay moved the most cargo of any Florida seaport in fiscal year 2024/25, 32,415,925 tons, ahead of Port Everglades at 28,045,852 tons and JAXPORT at 18,665,200 tons (FSTED 2026-2030 Seaport Mission Plan).

The Mission Plan's at-a-glance figures give total tonnage of 113.1 million in fiscal year 2024/25 and 113.4 million in 2023/24, import tons of 40.6 million and 43.4 million, and domestic tons of 58.2 million and 54.8 million (FSTED Mission Plan). The Mission Plan says just over half of the 113 million tons, 51 percent, was domestic, meaning waterborne trade between states or with Puerto Rico, and 39 percent was imports.

PortMiami reports 9,864,054 tons and 0 domestic tons in the table, and FDOT's profile calls it one of the two largest economic engines in Miami-Dade County, contributing $61.4 billion a year to the local economy (FDOT 2025 Seaport Profiles). The Mission Plan notes that the ports of Citrus, Fort Pierce, Key West, Putnam and St. Pete did not report cargo for the year, and the table lists 11 reporting ports (a tally of the rows in Exhibit 2).

Liquid bulk is the largest cargo type at Florida seaports, 55.7 million tons in fiscal year 2024/25, and FDOT says 86 percent of Florida's petroleum enters the state through its seaports (FSTED Mission Plan, FDOT Fast Facts).

The Mission Plan's statewide figures for fiscal year 2024/25 list 4.4 million TEUs, 25.2 million container tons, 23.3 million dry bulk tons, 8.8 million breakbulk tons and 630,000 vehicles (FSTED Mission Plan). The plan calls the 4.4 million TEUs a record for Florida's container ports.

FDOT's profile calls Port Everglades South Florida's main seaport for receiving petroleum products, and says it supplies petroleum to 12 Florida counties and moved over 130 million barrels of liquid bulk petroleum cargo in fiscal year 2024 (FDOT 2025 Seaport Profiles). FDOT's Fast Facts adds that Port Tampa Bay and Port Everglades have direct seaport to airport pipelines for jet fuel (FDOT Fast Facts).

FDOT counts 610,000 vehicles through Florida seaports in 2024, with JAXPORT accounting for 83 percent, Port Tampa Bay 9 percent and Port Everglades 7 percent (FDOT Fast Facts, March 2025). The Mission Plan's figure for the following fiscal year is 630,000 vehicles.

Florida exported a record $78.9 billion of goods in 2025, the sixth largest total of any state, and Brazil was its largest market at $6.0 billion, according to the U.S. Trade Representative's state trade profile (USTR, Florida).

USTR describes the 2025 total as an increase of 46 percent ($25 billion) from Florida's 2015 export level. Manufactured products made up $72.2 billion. Transportation equipment was the largest manufacturing export category at $17.5 billion, and other top manufacturing exports were computer and electronic products ($15.9 billion), chemicals ($10.2 billion), machinery except electrical ($7.1 billion) and food and kindred products ($4.2 billion) (USTR).

After Brazil, Florida's top markets in 2025 were Mexico ($5.4 billion), Canada ($5.4 billion), Germany ($5.3 billion) and Colombia ($2.7 billion), and exports to South and Central America and the Caribbean totaled $34.3 billion (USTR, Florida). USTR reports that 37 percent of Florida goods exports, $29.5 billion, went to current free trade agreement partners.

USTR counts 55,073 companies exporting from Florida locations in 2023, of which 52,004 (94 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees; such firms generated 56.3 percent of Florida goods exports that year. Florida goods exports supported an estimated 208,000 jobs in 2023, and foreign-controlled companies employed an estimated 455,000 Florida workers that year (USTR).

Published job and impact figures for the same Florida port differ by publisher, as FDOT's Seaport Office and JAXPORT show for Jacksonville (FDOT Seaport Office, JAXPORT).

Jacksonville is the clearest case. FDOT's Seaport Office page describes JAXPORT as supporting 132,000 jobs and nearly $27 billion in annual economic impact for the northeast Florida region (FDOT Seaport Office). JAXPORT's own economic impact page reports that cargo activity through Jacksonville's seaport supported more than 258,800 jobs in Florida and $44 billion in annual economic output in 2024, from a study by Martin Associates (JAXPORT Economic Impact). FDOT's page frames its figure as the northeast Florida region and JAXPORT's page frames its figure as jobs in Florida, and neither page reconciles the two.

JAXPORT's study also gives local detail: 30,764 people in the Jacksonville area hold port-dependent jobs, which pay an average annual salary of $76,706, and cargo activity generated $346 million in state and local taxes in 2024 (JAXPORT). These are the port's own published estimates.

For Port Everglades, FDOT's 2025 profile puts the total value of economic activity at about $29 billion and says more than 204,300 Florida jobs are impacted by the port (FDOT 2025 Seaport Profiles).

Florida's seaports are planned through the FSTED Council within FDOT, and state law sets aside at least $25 million a year for its program, matched 50-50 by the ports (Florida Statutes 311.09, Florida Statutes 311.07).

FSTED stands for Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic Development. The council has 18 members under section 311.09: the port directors of Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, Port Citrus, Fort Pierce, Palm Beach, Port Everglades, Miami, Port Manatee, St. Petersburg, Putnam County, Tampa, Port St. Joe, Panama City, Pensacola, Key West and Fernandina, plus the secretaries of Transportation and Commerce or their designees (Florida Statutes). Section 311.07 directs the money from the State Transportation Trust Fund (Florida Statutes).

FDOT's Seaport Office develops the Seaport and Waterways System Plan and coordinates infrastructure projects with Florida's 16 publicly owned seaports (FDOT Seaport Office). It also runs the Construction Aggregate Program, under which FDOT may make up to $20 million a year available for projects that move and store construction aggregate; its July 28, 2025 notice says that application cycle has closed.

The Mission Plan lists a five-year capital improvement program of $7.0 billion for fiscal year 2024/25 and $6.0 billion for 2023/24 (FSTED Mission Plan). Port Everglades' channel deepening and widening project, scheduled for fiscal years 2019 to 2028, has a total cost of $1.35 billion, of which FDOT's investment is $90.8 million (FDOT 2025 Seaport Profiles). The same profile says Port Everglades is a self-supporting Broward County enterprise fund with about $215.7 million in fiscal year 2024 operating revenue and does not rely on local tax dollars for operations.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, with a fresh read of FDOT's seaport study, fast facts and 2025 port profiles, the FSTED 2026-2030 Mission Plan, the USTR Florida trade profile, JAXPORT's impact page and sections 311.07 and 311.09 of the Florida Statutes.