Florida East Coast to open container transfer facility at Port Everglades next month

Florida East Coast Railway L.L.C. (FEC) plans to hold a grand opening ceremony July 14 for its intermodal container transfer facility (ICTF) adjacent to Port Everglades in Hollywood/Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The 43-acre facility will increase FEC's available intermodal capacity from 100,000 to 450,000 lifts per year. In addition, the $73 million near-dock facility will improve the transfer of both domestic and international containers between ships and rail.

The ICTF will replace FEC’s 12-acre intermodal yard that's located several miles from the port in Fort Lauderdale. Currently, containers must be drayed off-port to Fort Lauderdale or FEC's Hialeah yard in Miami-Dade County. The ICTF will enable the railroad to build 9,000-foot unit trains within the port without blocking any city streets.

"Having empty 53-foot domestic containers and trailers adjacent to the port provides more opportunities to transload import cargo from ocean containers to domestic containers for inland rail transport," FEC officials said in a press release. "This results in more domestic containers moving north as loads instead of empties, increasing the efficiency of our intermodal network."

The ICTF will facilitate faster delivery times and create less-congested roadways by eliminating a high volume of trucks from state highways, they said.

The port contributed land valued at $20 million for the ICTF. The project was funded with a $30 million loan and $18 million grant from the Florida Department of Transportation, and $5 million from FEC.