News & Updates

President’s Message: January 2025

Mike Rubin
President & CEO

With the start of a New Year, comes new opportunities to ensure Florida’s seaports continue providing critical commodities that feed, fuel and heal Floridians.

Florida’s seaports have an essential role in supplying critical commodities that are fundamental to our daily lives, economic stability and overall well-being. They play an outsized role in making sure grocery stores are stocked with food, gas stations have fuel, and hospitals and pharmacies have the medical supplies to heal patients and keep Floridians healthy.

When it comes to feeding Florida, our seaports import and export nearly $10 billion in food, vegetables and perishable goods each year to ensure our state and nation’s food supply chain remains strong.

Florida’s largest import category, coming in at more than $32 billion, is petroleum products and aviation fuel. Our seaports fuel everything from homes and businesses to automobiles, farm equipment and airplanes.

Plus, with Florida’s unprecedented population growth, our seaports are playing a vital role in importing more than $600 million in cement and aggregate to help build roads and bridges, and construction and infrastructure materials that are helping Floridians rebuild following multiple destructive hurricanes.

The vital supply chain role Florida’s seaports play pays great dividends to the state and taxpayers. Specifically, Florida’s ports create 1.2 million jobs, contribute $196 billion to the state’s economy and create $7.4 billion in state and local taxes.

To keep this momentum going, it’s important to ensure the strength of our state’s seaports remain secure from an infrastructure and investment standpoint.

Florida’s lawmakers have begun their annual meetings in Tallahassee in preparation for the 2025 Legislative Session, and we’re actively sharing the importance that our state’s seaports play in providing critical food, fuel and healthcare commodities to Floridians.

With legislative activity ramping up, our focus will remain on sharing how partners in the agriculture and other important industries, support Florida’s seaports and want to see our state make strong investments that help ensure they have the infrastructure and tools to continue providing critical commodities through the supply chain.

I’d like to take an opportunity to thank Clark Merritt for his Port Director leadership at the Port of Pensacola. As he recently shared, he has resigned from his port position for a new opportunity. Fair winds and following seas Clark.

Thanks to all port leaders across Florida for the contributions you make to ensure our ports remain strong.

Thank you.